Objectives: The purpose of this review is to analyse the trends of clinical studies using oral appliance in Korean Medicine. Methods: We reviewed Korean Medicine papers by searching Korean web databases 'Korea Traditional Knowledge Portal (KTKP)', 'Korea Medical Information Portal (OASIS)', 'Academic Research Information Service (RISS)', 'Scientific and Technological Information Integration Service (NDSL)'. We classified the papers by the year of publishment, the title of journals, the type of study and contents. Results: 1. Clinical studies using oral appliance have been increasingly published since 2011. 2. Most of the studies were published in the Journal of TMJ Balancing Medicine. 3. 33 research papers were divided in to 6 original articles, 27 case reports. But almost presented a low level of evidence. 4. In the content of the studies, oral appliance were used for various diseases such as nervous system, musculoskeletal system and visceral system. Conclusions: We expect that various studies and clinical application will be actively carried out with the development of technology related to oral appliance.

In order to propose a fundamental and appliable theories for balancing therapy of temporomandibular joint (TMBT), evolutionary proofs and up-down theories in evolutionary biology and Korean medicine were investigated. Balancing therapy of temporomandibular joint treats disorder and diseases of the whole body through straightening of the abnormal linking between temporomandibular joint and axis. Although the mechanism of this therapy contains many merits like multicellular integrity and coadjustment, ease of balance and alert forward mobility by the bipedal stepping and evolution to Homo sapiens, increasing disadvantages of balancing pressure of right and left in the lengthened perpendicular axis and the balancing load of temporomandibular joint and axis following the reactional change of dental occlusion are deeply related and considered in this therapy. As for up-down theory, crossing of heavenly qi and earth qi centering on cervical joint is presented as the first mechanism for TMBT, and the other ones like in-out and up-down qi activity of tripple energizer, up-down of essence-qi-spirit in the three backbone barrier and three cinnabar field, up-down of yin-yang-water-fire of viscera and bowels can be related too.

Recently, clinical efficacies of the intraoral balancing appliance therapy have been reported by several researchers, and it has been found that there are various kinds of diseases that can be effectively applied. However, studies on cerebrovascular disease, one of the main diseases with a high mortality rate, are still poorly reported, and studies of temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD)-induced changes in brain function suggest that cerebrovascular disease is more appropriate as an adaptive disorder of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) balancing device. In the developed countries, the importance of research on the structure and function of the brain has been recognized and spurred on the related research. In Korea, the research on brain function and cognitive disorders should have promoted more massively. In order to regain its former reputation in the Korean medicine in the field of cerebrovascular disease, it should be spurred on basic research and clinical case studies. In addition, extensive and in-depth studies including animal studies are needed to establish the basis of underlying mechanisms of the TMJ balancing therapies.

Positional Release Techniques (PRTs) are an umbrella term for manual therapies harnessing spontaneous musculoskeletal balancing mechanism of the body facilitated by finding and maintaining therapeutic position. PRT has its origin in the Strain Counterstrain (SCS) technique by Dr. Jones but encompasses diverse related techniques that stemmed off from the SCS. PRT emphasizes postural balance within the body and innate healing potential of the body including the postural balance of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). This study briefly reviews concepts, history, and contemporary study reports on PRT with a focus on the yin-yang balance based approach of PRT.

본 증례에서는 발병한지 1개월 된 환상미각증 환자에게 FCST의 CBA를 이용한 상부 경추 교정 치료를 시행하여 환상미각 증상이 완전 소실되는 변화를 관찰하였다. 다른 치료를 병행 하지 않고 CBA를 이용한 상부 경추 교정 치료만으로 효과를 본 것에 임상적 의의가 있다. 뇌신경계의 안정을 목표로 비침습적인 구강내 장치를 이용하여 미각이상 증상의 개선을 관찰하였고, 추후 미각장애에 대하여 FCST 치료의 가능성을 확인하였다.