A 28 years old woman presents with intermittent jaw pain and clicking noise in the jaw joint when she chews or talks. She says the pain is worse in the morning when she awakens, but decreases as the day progresses. She complains of being unable to open her mouth as wide as she used to. She also complains of periodic headaches in temporal regions. On examination she has tenderness to palpation in the region anterior to the tragus of the ear. A clicking of the mandibular joint is palpated as the patient opens and closes her mouth. What are the most important differential diagnoses?

Of the relevant differential diagnoses, it is important to rule out temporal arteritis.

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This post was written by Omar Rifai