TMJ Balancing Therapy · Patient Guide

Customized and Standard
— The Two Intraoral Balancing Appliances

Sandol Korean Medicine Clinic · 2026.09.11 · Views –

TMJ Balancing Therapy is a treatment that uses an Intraoral Balancing Appliance (IBA) worn inside the mouth to adjust the position of the mandible (lower jaw), thereby restoring the balance of the axis (C2 vertebra), the whole spine, and the nervous system. This appliance comes in two forms: a customized one made directly in the clinic by correcting the height difference between the patient's left and right temporomandibular joints, and a standard one — one of about 40 kinds — that is pre-designed and pre-manufactured. The two appliances are designed to make up for each other's shortcomings, so like two sides of the same coin they work best when used together.

01The Two Appliances at a Glance

CUSTOMIZED · C-IBA

Customized Intraoral Balancing Appliance

Cervical Balancing Appliance (CBA)

Because each person's oral structure and occlusion (bite) are different, it is made in the clinic using silicone impression material to accurately measure the patient's left-right jaw imbalance. It precisely guides the mandible to the four elements of the jaw and the three elements of whole-body posture — that is, the seven central balancing elements.

Manual — adjusted by the Korean medicine doctor

Fabrication: Measured and remade at every clinic visit
Wear time: At first around 1 minute, extended to 2–10 minutes depending on how long deviation takes to appear
Lifespan: Single use. Not reused
Treatment speed: Fast
Corrective ability: Dental arch expansion and tooth alignment are not possible

STANDARD · S-IBA

Standard Intraoral Balancing Appliance

TBA · ABA · OBA · OAA · S-CBA, etc.

It is a general-purpose device pre-designed and pre-manufactured from medical-grade soft silicone so that anyone with a similar oral structure can obtain a consistent effect. Because various types and sizes are available according to the treatment purpose, the form of malocclusion, and the size of the dental arch, it is prescribed based on the Korean medicine doctor's diagnosis.

Automatic — self-adjusting

Fabrication: The device matching the diagnosis is selected and prescribed from among the standardized products
Wear time: As long as possible, 20 or more hours a day
Lifespan: Semi-permanent. Worn continuously unless it breaks
Treatment speed: Slower than the customized type
Corrective ability: Depending on the device chosen, dental arch expansion and tooth alignment are possible

02Differences by Category

Differences between the Cervical Balancing Appliance (CBA) and the standard IBA
Category	Customized · CBA	Standard · S-IBA
Treatment method	A manual balancing appliance in which treatment proceeds only through the Korean medicine doctor's deviation correction	An automatic balancing appliance in which treatment proceeds on its own without deviation correction
Treatment speed	Faster than the standard type	Slower than the customized type
When deviation occurs	Continued wear may cause side effects	Continued wear causes almost no side effects
When uncomfortable	Stop wearing it immediately, regardless of how long it has been worn	There is no need to stop However, if a problem develops in the teeth or gums, wear may be paused temporarily
Replacement	If deviation occurs, switch immediately to the standard type and wear it	Because it self-adjusts, no replacement is needed However, if the dental arch or occlusal structure changes, the device may be changed
Change in the device	Each time deviation occurs, the height of the device changes	Because it is standardized, the device stays the same even when deviation occurs
Guidance precision	Precisely guides the temporomandibular joint and the mandible to the seven central balancing elements	Guides only to the position that has been pre-designed and preset
Teeth and dental arch	Cannot widen the dental arch or align the teeth	Depending on the device chosen, dental arch expansion and tooth alignment are possible
Clinic visits	Deviation correction by the Korean medicine doctor is needed at every visit, and it can be made several times a day	No deviation correction is needed. Check for any problems with a clinic visit at least once a month

03Why the Two Are Used Together

The customized type is precise but is a single-use device whose task ends the moment deviation occurs, while the standard type is less precise but is worn all day and adjusts the balance on its own. If only one of the two is chosen, the synergistic effect that makes the most of each device's function cannot be expected, and treatment is slow. For this reason the Korean medicine doctor always prescribes the two appliances together.

The approach is to establish a fresh balance with the customized appliance in the clinic, and to maintain that balance by wearing the standard appliance at home and at work. That said, if the purpose is disease prevention, or preventing recurrence after treatment has ended, the standard type alone may be sufficient.

04What Determines the Treatment Period

The two appliances are governed by different variables when it comes to the treatment period. For the customized type, the number of treatments determines the period; for the standard type, the wear time does. The following is a simple comparison to aid understanding; the actual period varies with the severity of the illness and the degree of adherence.

Customized — the more often you are treated, the shorter the period

Assuming a patient who recovers with 60 treatments in total

6 treatments/month10 months

10 treatments/month6 months

20 treatments/month3 months

30 treatments/month2 months

Recovery is fastest when deviation correction is ideally received every day. However, taking stamina into account, deviation correction can be done 4 to 10 times a day, and if the patient's condition cannot keep up, this is adjusted to 2–3 visits a week, within 4 times per session.

Standard — the longer you wear it, the shorter the period

Assuming a patient who recovers in 3 months with 20 hours of wear a day

20 hours/day3 months

10 hours/day6 months

5 hours/day12 months

1 hour/day60 months

When it strains the teeth or gums, increase the wear time little by little. If you repeat the practice of taking it out briefly when uncomfortable and putting it back on once you feel better, you will eventually be able to wear it for 20 hours or more without much discomfort.

05Deviation — Changes That Appear During Treatment

As treatment proceeds, the positions of the temporomandibular joint and the mandible change, producing countless changes in the spine, muscles, and nervous system. The 'temporary state of imbalance' in which a temporarily established balance becomes disrupted again during this process is called deviation, and the resulting changes that appear in the body are called the deviation reaction. When the Korean medicine doctor at this point finds a new balance point again and makes a customized appliance, this is deviation correction, and this whole sequence of processes is precisely what treatment is.

When a deviation reaction appears, it is easy to feel alarmed or fearful about the treatment. However, it means that a proper therapeutic change is taking place within the body; in most cases it subsides on its own within a few days, after which the condition is better than before.

Symptoms That May Appear When Deviation Occurs

Headache, migraine, dizziness
Nausea, queasiness, indigestion
Pain in the back of the neck or the shoulders
A chilly feeling as with a cold
Numbness or a sensation of paralysis in the hands and feet
Unexplained fatigue and lethargy
Itching and skin symptoms
Reappearance of symptoms that had once been present and gone
Jaw pain that was not there before
Teeth becoming loose or painful
Gum disease
A temporary open bite

What the Patient Should Do When an Uncomfortable Symptom Arises

Stop wearing the customized appliance (CBA) immediately. Regardless of how long it has been worn, the moment you feel discomfort is the moment to stop. Deviation can appear in less than a minute.
Put on the standard appliance right away. It calms the cranial nervous system and helps align the upper cervical spine.
Lie down, rest, and keep the body warm. Soaking the body in warm water and resting for a while also aids recovery.
Visit the clinic for deviation correction as soon as possible. The longer it is put off, the longer the treatment period becomes. If you cannot visit right away, keep wearing the standard appliance until then.

06Wear and Care

Customized · CBA

Keep the average wear time
to around 2 minutes

Wearing

Distinguishing upper from lower, place it on the occlusal surfaces of the teeth and hold it lightly between the teeth.
Do not bite down with deliberate force.

Timing

No matter how comfortable it feels, at first wear it for around 1 minute and then immediately check whether deviation has occurred.
As treatment proceeds and the time it takes for deviation to occur lengthens, the wear time may be increased gradually.
If discomfort arises within 2 minutes of wear, have the Korean medicine doctor check for deviation immediately, regardless of the time.

Prohibited

Do not take the device home and wear it instead of discarding it. Because the customized type produces rapid correction, wearing it for a long time while ignoring the occurrence of deviation worsens symptoms.
Once used, a device is not reused.
Because it is a soft putty material, do not apply excessive force. It may break.

Standard · S-IBA

If it is not uncomfortable,
20 hours a day — the longer the better

Wearing

Align the groove of the device's center line with the center of the upper and lower teeth.
Keep it in a lightly bitten position so that the molars float comfortably.
When you need to move the mandible left-right or front-back, bite down with a little more force, but if it hurts, rest briefly and then put it back on.

Timing

If the discomfort is not severe, wear it for 20 or more hours a day.
If the teeth or gums hurt, start with a short time and increase it little by little.
Always carry it so that you can wear it at any time.

Care

Rinse it under running water, then dry it and store it in its case.
Boil it in boiling water for 5 minutes once a month. Brushing and baby-bottle cleanser may be used, but generally rinsing with water immediately after use is enough.
Have a clinic visit at least once a month to check for any problems.

Prohibited

Do not clench or chew hard while wearing it. It will damage the product.
Never use a broken device.
Do not deform or damage the device without the Korean medicine doctor's instruction.

07Three Practices That Speed Up Treatment

Even if you wear the appliance, a strong effect is hard to expect unless the following three go along with it. These are not optional but part of the treatment.

Correct spinal posture

Even while wearing the appliance, if your posture is not correct, the axis, along with the whole spine and the nervous system, is placed in a state of imbalance again. Combining basic stretching and walking or running with correct posture makes recovery faster.

Correct mental attitude

Positive thinking, through the secretion of endorphins, aids pain relief, immunity, and healing. Even while going through a deviation reaction, an attitude of understanding the treatment process and maintaining trust with the medical staff governs the speed of recovery.

Correct eating habits

Not all illness arises from structural imbalance alone. Make eating lightly, a plant-based diet, and brown rice the basis; reduce instant foods and chemical seasonings; and increase beans, tofu, garlic, mushrooms, ginger, tomatoes, and seaweed.

Things to Know Before Treatment

Because the Intraoral Balancing Appliance is a treatment device that moves the mandible to a position matching the seven balancing elements and holds it there, changes may occur in the oral structure and occlusion during the course of treatment. In particular, in the case of severe pain conditions or chronic illness, as the body's structure changes, various uncomfortable symptoms — so-called body-change reactions — may appear temporarily.

If there was severe Class II or Class III malocclusion, or if the jaw was skewed to one side, moving the mandible to the central balancing position results in an entirely different occlusion, and an open bite may develop in the front teeth or the molars. In most cases the mandible, teeth, and occlusion realign again over time and recover, but where they do not, dental treatment may be needed.

During treatment, while all the occlusal contact points of the teeth change and realign, the occlusion may feel awkward and chewing food may be uncomfortable. This too resolves on its own over time in most cases.

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