Para-articular osteochondroma of the temporomandibular joint.

A para-articular osteochondroma is a rare osteocartilaginous tumour that arises in the soft tissue adjacent to a joint but with no attachment to the bone. To our knowledge, this is the first case of one reported in the region of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). The patient presented with severe preauricular pain caused by a para-auricular osteochondroma, which arose in the preauricular region just external to the TMJ.