What Causes Otalgia
- Common cause of otalgia;
- causes include:
- Temporomandibular joint syndrome (eg, from gum chewing, bruxism, or recent dental procedure)
- Upper aerodigestive tract malignancy
- Dental pathologies (eg, caries, impacted molars)
- Tonsillitis
- Peritonsillar abscesses
- Retropharyngeal abscesses
- Carotidynia
- Styloid process elongation
- Angina
- Intrathoracic aneurysms
- Glossopharyngeal neuralgia
- Geniculate neuralgia
- As opposed to patients with otitis externa, patients with referred pain have normal external auditory canal examination results
- Differentiate with history and physical examination and additional focused diagnostic work-up based on clinical suspicion of specific underlying cause to further delineate alternate underlying pathology as indicated