I had that kind of jaw popping as a teenager, and my dentist tested me by carefully watching how my teeth fit together as I opened and closed my jaw. Instead of seeing my jaw closed in one motion, it hit a "high" spot on a molar, and then "slid" to an accommodating closed position. It was like my jaw was limping in order to close.
The solution was to grind off the "high" spot so I could closed my jaw directly. I have never had a recurrence of that problem again, now it is 50 years later.