Mastoiditis or bruxism?

[janda]

I have been having some pain around my left ear.  It is intermittent and occurs in different places.  Basically, it would be like once an hour feeling a little stab of pain somewhere and then it goes away.  It's not relentless pain like a typical ear infection.  Sometimes it's on my face in front of the ear and sometimes it's behind the ear on the mastoid bone.  Sometimes it's even below the mastoid bone. It mostly occurs in one ear only although I've also had a small amount of pain in the other ear.  I have not had a fever and I'm not sure if the mastoid is red at all.  The mastoid seems larger on the affected side than it is behind the pain-free ear, but it does not hurt when I press on it.

Is it possible to have mastoiditis without having a lot of pain or is this likely to be a result of me grinding my teeth at night?  Also, are the mastoid bones usually the same size behind each ear?

I've also been under a lot of stress (thus the teeth grinding) and over the past couple weeks I had some strange things going on in my throat.  Sudden burning sensation with no reason that went away after a day, pain on one side of the roof of my mouth that went away and I was able to feel my uvula when swallowing for 2 days.  The uvula was not swollen though.  I also have to admit that I seem to have a very sensitive mouth - very strong gag reflex.

Do I need to see an ENT?

[GeeDee219]

You may want to visit a dentist.  A fellow I worked with had the ear thing going on for quite some time, and it ended up being a bad tooth in the back.