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A Statistical Study of 36 cases on the Effect of Korean Medicine Treatment including TBT on Facial Asymmetry Correction

Article information

J Korean Med. 2025;46(1):167-180
Publication date (electronic) : 2025 March 01
doi : https://doi.org/10.13048/jkm.25012
Jeongmin Shin1,orcid_icon, Junghun Shin2orcid_icon
1Ulfit Korean Medicine Clinic
2Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information
Correspondence to: Jeongmin Shin, Charmjin building, Nonhyeon-ro 85Road 43, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Republic of korea, Tel: +82-2-538-7712, Fax: +82-2-538-4478, E-mail: hiranya5382@gmail.com
Received 2024 December 31; Revised 2025 February 21; Accepted 2025 February 21.

Abstract

Objectives

The aim of this study is to analyze data from 36 cases of combined Korean medicine treatment, including TBT to evaluate its effectiveness in correcting facial asymmetry.

Methods

Using the initial charts, DSLR photographs, and cranial X-ray images of 36 patients who received facial asymmetry correction treatment, changes in angles along the midline and horizontal plane, as well as differences in the ratio of left and right jaw lengths, were measured and analyzed. Improvement rates were calculated for each factor, and a paired sample t-test was used to determine the statistical significance of pre- and post-treatment differences.

Results

The changes in angles measured in the soft tissue analysis showed statistically significant improvements according to the t-test (p < 0.05). Similarly, cephalometric analysis also demonstrated statistically significant improvements (p < 0.05). The highest correction rate was observed in the angle formed by the line drawn vertically from the clavicle midline and the line connecting the clavicle midline to the center of the glabella, with an improvement of 74.74 ± 21.15%. The correction rate for the ratio of the line connecting the ends of both rami from the midline (LL/RL) was the third highest at 60.42 ± 37.08%, but this change was not statistically significant in the t-test.

Conclusion

This study suggests that non-surgical Korean medicine treatments, such as TBT, may have a statistically significant effect on correcting facial asymmetry.

Keywords: Facial asymmetry; FCST; TBT; TMJ Balancing Therapy; TBM; TMJ Balancing Medicine
(1) CorrectionRate(%)=Parameterbefore-ParameterafterParameterbefore×100
(2) CorrectionRateLL/RL(%)=|1-Parameterbefore|-|1-Parameterafter||1-Parameterbefore|×100
Fig. 1

A set of TBT - a) Customized balancing appliance, b) Intraoral balancing appliance, c) CST pillow, d) Pelvic balancer, e) Spinal balancer

Fig. 2

Photography Before-After analysis - a) Before and b) After treatments (taken from ref. [8])

Fig. 3

Chephalography analysis (taken from ref. [8])

Fig. 4

Correction Rate (Boxplot)

Definitions of symbols

Demographic information

Changes of parameters and t-test results

Correction rates of parameters

TMD symptom changes

Changes of Likert scores and Wilcoxon signed-ranked test results

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Article information Continued

Fig. 1

Fig. 1

A set of TBT - a) Customized balancing appliance, b) Intraoral balancing appliance, c) CST pillow, d) Pelvic balancer, e) Spinal balancer

Fig. 2

Fig. 2

Photography Before-After analysis - a) Before and b) After treatments (taken from ref. [8])

Fig. 3

Fig. 3

Chephalography analysis (taken from ref. [8])

Fig. 4

Fig. 4

Correction Rate (Boxplot)

Table 1

Definitions of symbols

1 AC Angle between line A and line C in Fig. 2
2 BC Angle between line B and line C in Fig. 2
3 Dhor Angle between D and horizon in Fig. 2
4 Ehor Angle between E and horizon in Fig. 2
5 VM Angle between line V and line M in Fig. 3
6 FH Angle between line F and line H in Fig. 3
7 LL/RL Length ratio of line LL and line RL shown in Fig. 3
8 _bef Before treatment
9 _aft After treatment
10 _cor Correction rate
11 SD Standard deviation
12 TMJ Temporomandibular joint disorder

Table 2

Demographic information

Sample Size Ratio (%) Mean age (mean±SD) No. of treatments (mean±SD)
Sex Male 11 30.6 28.5 ±8.93 30.5±13.4
Female 25 69.4 30.4±9.12 31.6±13.2
Age 10s 4 11.1 - 33.5±20.9
20s 16 44.5 - 34.6±14.1
30s 9 25 - 24.2±7.5
40s 7 19.4 - 31.7±10.2
Over 50 0 0 - -

Table 3

Changes of parameters and t-test results

Photograph X-ray
AC BC Dhor Ehor VM FH LL/RL
Measured value (mean±SD) before 3.129±1.453 2.475±1.575 2.756±1.025 2.952±1.466 3.724±1.421 3.073±1.787 0.916±0.169
after 0.868±0.889 1.175±1.059 1.257±0.891 1.503±1.104 1.407±0.799 1.317±1.118 0.963±0.056
t-test (p-value) 1.164x 10−14 1.061x 10−7 4.459x 10−9 4.885x 10−9 7.964x 10−13 1.607x 10−8 0.0549

Table 4

Correction rates of parameters

AC_cor BC_cor Dhor_cor Ehor_cor VM_cor FH_cor LL/RL_cor
count 36.000000 36.000000 36.000000 36.000000 36.000000 36.000000 36.000000
mean 74.735491 54.879715 49.082284 45.410749 60.780406 55.911676 60.420758
SD 21.153852 32.488588 34.815346 36.583156 20.326416 29.023573 37.078061
minimum 30.555556 0.000000 −33.333333 −50.000000 28.348910 0.000000 −100.000000
25% 56.198103 28.863636 22.553191 20.647482 43.577262 37.500000 48.611111
50% 79.445187 59.831255 56.664165 50.103734 57.388996 58.158876 69.047619
75% 95.555556 91.273421 73.685769 72.595737 74.363269 77.898551 83.102767
maximum 98.214286 96.825397 96.774194 96.138996 100.000000 95.260664 100.00000

Table 5

TMD symptom changes

Symptom Abbreviation No of people with symptoms
Jaw pain when opening mouth TMJ 1 13
Stiff jaw joint when waking up TMJ 2 11
Jaw and face pain TMJ 3 18
Jaw clicking TMJ 4 26
Difficulty opening one’s mouth TMJ 5 12
Frequent jaw dislocation TMJ 6 8
Numbness around the jaw TMJ 7 8
Bruxism TMJ 8 11
Headache TMJ 9 23
Back neck pain TMJ 10 29
Shoulder pain TMJ 11 22

Table 6

Changes of Likert scores and Wilcoxon signed-ranked test results

Symptoms (Abbreviations in Table 5)
TMJ1 TMJ2 TMJ3 TMJ4 TMJ5 TMJ6 TMJ7 TMJ8 TMJ9 TMJ10 TMJ11
Mean ±SD before 0.833± 1.463 1.833±1.577 0.639±1.175 0.611±1.271 0.472±1.055 1.500±1.595 0.806±1.283 0.722±1.344 1.028±1.253 2.444±1.796 1.833±1.780
after 0.111±0.319 0.361±0.639 0.111±0.319 0.056±0.232 0.111±0.523 1.317±1.118 0.361±0.593 0.111±0.319 0.222±0.422 0.694±0.920 0.361±0.723
Wilcoxon test (pvalue) 3.03x 10−3 1.51x 10−5 6.91x 10−3 1.09x 10−2 1.67x 10−2 1.74x 10−4 1.98x 10−3 4.46x 10−3 2.90x 10−4 1.75x 10−5 6.84x 10−5