Longitudinal data were obtained for 4 years from 361 Japanese high school girls between the ages of 12 and 16. The data were analysed for the occurrence of pain and its associations with the occurrence of other cardinal TMJ dysfunction symptoms and occlusal states. It was determined that even if pain or noise or jaw-deviation symptoms appeared, those symptoms did not necessarily last thereafter. The symptoms were not persistent but rather appeared and disappeared repetitively. Those who exhibited noise during at least one of the surveys of the 4-year survey period showed a significantly higher prevalence of pain than those who did not exhibit noise at all (P < 0.05). Those who exhibited noise by the age of 13 showed a significantly higher prevalence of pain than those who exhibited noise after age 14 (P < 0.1). The temporal occurrence of pain depended upon the appearance of noise and the age at which noise first appeared. On the other hand, the occurrence of pain symptoms was not necessarily related to specific types of malocclusions, which suggests the significance of multifactorial contributions in understanding the aetiology of pain rather than the occlusal factor.