I had a silver filling done in my L19 molar approximately 10 years ago
(I  am 25 years old currently). Sometime over the course of this past
year, the silver filling cracked and caused part of my tooth to chip.
As a result, my dentist did a fill in, watched the tooth for two
months, and then prepped for a crown (he said that a root canal was
not neccessary at this time). I was advised I would need to wait
approximately 8-10 days while the lab prepared my permanent crown. In
the meantime I have my temporary crown. When I went back in after the
allotted wait period and the permanent crown was placed in, I was
advised by the dentist that it did not fit correctly and another set
of impressions would need to be taken. After the impression was done
and the measurements sent back to the lab, the temporary crown I was
given was placed back in and I was told to return in three weeks. And
that is where I am currently - awaiting my appointment for my
permanent crown to be placed in. The problem is however I am currently
experiencing pain after sleeping on that side of the mouth. I sleep on
my stomach and during sleep if I end up somehow shifting towards that
side, I wake up in the morning with a dull throbbing pain to the left
side of my mouth and/or ear ache (i have had problems with the ear
ache in the past - and I have never been able to get a clear answer
from my doctor or my dentist). The throbbing pain however is new and
has never happened before. The pain usually subsides after a few
hours. I also dont know if the ear ache is due to the temporary crown
or another problem. I thought that perhaps my night time grinding was
causing the problem and purchased one of those night time mouth guards
to help with the problem. After fitting the mouth guard according to
the directions and wearing it for approximately 5 minutes in bed, I
decided to take it out becuase it increased the pain I was filling to
the left side of my mouth. Currently I am in a state of awful
discomfort and have taken some NSAIDS to help relieve the pain and
help me sleep through the night.

I am aware that a temporary crown does not fit 100% properly and am
hopeful that the pain will not return once my permanent crown is
placed in. However is this pain during the night normal while the
temporary crown is in. Also, did I worsen my state by attempting to
use the mouth guard? Also, is it standard to have to wait 3 weeks for
the permanent crown given that the first one did not fit - could the
doctor have placed some type of rushed order? Would I be wasting my
efforts in calling the dentist to request that the permanent crown be
placed earlier? Any advise on this would be greatly appreciated. I
would call my dentist however he is on vacation this week.