Ear and Jaw discomfort?

[sigers99]

Last night, my ear was itching and when I scratched it, it's tender to the touch. This is the area where the ear starts, on the side of the head. It doesn't bother me unless I touch it, but it's constantly itching inside the canal, so I keep trying to scratch it, and it's bothersome. If I apply direct pressure, the discomfort seems to go in towards the canal. I also noticed my jaw is aching. It's on the same side with the ear problem. When I talk, it seems to be ok, it's when I yawn, or open my mouth wider, or initially after a long period that I haven't moved my jaw. It seems to radiate towards the front of my mouth, along the upper and lower jaw. Someone mentioned earlier that I might have a bug that crawled in my ear; but I don't have any actual pain in my ear, or hear anything in my ear. My hearing isn't affected. It's more of a discomfort and moderate ache; at the absolute worse.
Any idea what this could possibly be related to? I don't have medical insurance and simply want to know the correct direction to look towards, instead of one doctor sending me to another doctor, and so forth.

[sigers99]

I was told, once before, about 20 years ago, that I had TMJ, but I never had any real complications from it. They seem to be better today, but there is some slight swelling at the side of the face, where the ear starts. If it continues to get better, is this anything I should be seriously concerned about?

[ENTMD]

Most likely explanations are arthritis of the jaw joint (TMJ arthralgia) or an outer ear infection ("Swimmer's Ear", although you don't need to swim to get it).