First dental visit at the community health center: removing a decayed wisdom tooth
Nov 16, 2025
The wisdom tooth at the far end of my upper row had been rotten for a long time—basically only half of it was left. I had kept putting off the extraction because my hyperthyroidism indicators had not been stable, and I did not dare to rush into it.
Dental appointments at nearby community health centers are ridiculously hard to get. The slots disappear almost as soon as they are released. I had seen people recommend the dental departments at Dalang Community Health Center and Minqiang Community Health Center. At first I wanted to book Dalang, since their notice said appointments would be released around 5 p.m. on Wednesday. I waited and waited, but nothing appeared, and by Thursday noon there were still no slots. So I booked Dr. Jiang at Minqiang instead—their appointments open at 12 noon on Thursdays, and I happened to catch one.
Sunday was packed. I left on my little electric scooter at 9:30 a.m., arrived at the health center at 10, and did not get called in for the extraction until 11:30. The X-ray and the actual tooth removal together only took about twenty minutes. After that I went downstairs to pay, then queued another half hour to collect the medicine, and went back up to confirm the medication instructions with the doctor.
The doctor specifically reminded me not to eat anything for two hours after the extraction. When he found out I had not eaten yet, he gave me a cup of sugar water before pulling the tooth. I waited until almost 2 p.m. after getting home before I dared to eat, and ordered pork offal congee from downstairs.
The reimbursement at the community health center was honestly excellent. Around 75% was covered. The total bill was over 400 yuan, and I only paid a little over 100 yuan out of pocket. Very worth it.
The deeply unpleasant experience of getting fillings
Nov 22, 2025, Saturday
This time I could not get an appointment with Dr. Jiang, so I booked Deputy Chief Physician Dr. Yin. My appointment was at 2:30 p.m., and after waiting a short while, I was called in.
The doctor took one look and said five teeth needed fillings. The worst one was the upper right tooth at the very back. It was badly decayed, and the doctor said there was a high chance it would need a root canal. The plan was to try filling it first; if it still hurt afterward, I would have to come back for root canal treatment.
Filling that upper-right tooth was genuinely painful. It took more than twenty minutes, and because of its position, it was difficult to work on. It hurt so much that tears came out. If the doctor had not been so focused on the procedure, I really would have wanted to stop him and ask whether I could get anesthesia. The tooth on the lower left also hurt while being filled, but at least that pain did not last as long as the upper-right one.
The whole session took almost an hour, and that hour was pure suffering. The payment slip listed four items, totaling 1,242.52 yuan. After medical insurance reimbursement, I paid 313.54 yuan myself. My annual medical insurance quota was over 2,600 yuan. Before this year I had only used a little over 700, leaving more than 1,900. This one visit used more than 900 yuan, leaving a bit over 900. After paying social security for so long, this year it finally felt like I actually got some use out of it.
Another wisdom tooth extraction
Nov 29, 2025, Saturday
I managed to book Dr. Jiang at Minqiang again, this time for 8:30 in the morning. I got up early, washed up, boiled two eggs for breakfast, ate them, and rode my little electric scooter over.
This extraction hurt much more than the previous one. The doctor injected anesthesia several times, but it did not seem to take properly. In the end it probably hit near the bone, because the tooth suddenly went numb for a second—and the pain made tears stream down my face.
The lower-right wisdom tooth was quite large. The doctor had to cut it open first before removing it, and then stitched the area afterward. After writing the prescription, he told me to collect the medicine and also buy a bottle of ice water to hold against my jawline. By the time I picked up the medication and went back to find him, my tongue and lips had already started going numb.
This extraction was much more expensive than the last one. The previous rotten-root wisdom tooth cost over 300 yuan, with a little over 100 yuan paid out of pocket. This one was harder to remove and involved cutting, so it came to more than 800 yuan, with over 200 yuan paid by myself. My pooled medical insurance account suddenly dropped to just over 400 yuan.
After getting home, the tooth still hurt a little. I lay down on the bed and fell asleep. At noon I ate a bit, took the medicine, and slept some more. Later I got up, picked up a parcel, changed the bottled water, and installed the new split-style windproof quilt I had bought for the scooter. It worked pretty well, though the cover on the right handle got a little stuck against the throttle.
After all that, I went back to my rented room and started dealing with the Guangxi yellow-heart cassava I had bought online. I peeled half and put it in the fridge, then took out a smaller portion to cook. I added yellow slab sugar and two sections of sugarcane I had bought earlier. After the pot came up to pressure, I cooked it for twenty minutes and let it sit for a while before eating. The outside was soft and sticky, while the inside was still a little powdery—probably because I had not let it steam long enough. But the flavor was great. With the sugarcane added, it had a clean sweetness without being cloying.
The last wisdom tooth left
Dec 7, 2025, Sunday
I went back that day to have the stitches removed and asked the doctor what to do about the final wisdom tooth. There is still one left at the far end of the lower-left row, and it seems like it will be difficult to extract because it is a bit curved. Dr. Jiang told me to book the chief physician or deputy chief physician next time, or just make an appointment at a hospital. He said he could not remove that one.
Since there is not much money left in the pooled insurance account, and I still need to go for another hyperthyroidism follow-up, I decided to wait until January 2026 before extracting it. A deeper wisdom tooth would probably hurt for longer too, so I will think carefully then about whether to go to a hospital or book a senior doctor at the community health center.
Mahjong after all that
That evening Junhao invited us to play mahjong. Chonghao was not free, so we called Yubin to join.
My luck was exactly like last time: very good in the first half, then completely gone after midnight. The main problem was that my energy could not keep up.
I normally do not play through the second half of the night. Later, Pangzi came over, and I wanted to give him my seat. But Yubin said he had to leave during the latter half, so I could not get away and had no choice but to push through the whole night. During the last hour and a half, I was so sleepy I could barely stay conscious. I had not stayed up all night in a long time, and I really could not handle it anymore.
When we finished in the morning, I gave Pangzi a ride to the subway station, then rode home by myself. When I was a little over one kilometer from home, I suddenly got drowsy and nodded off for two or three seconds. I snapped awake immediately, but thinking about it afterward still scared me.
I had not eaten anything the whole night, so in the morning I found a place to have rice noodle rolls. It was my first time eating at the rice noodle roll and soup noodle shop diagonally across from the bun shop at the village entrance. The taste was exactly my type, with a very Chaoshan-style feel—mainly because the sauce and broth were so good. The owner’s accent sounded Hakka. Next time I go, I might ask about it, haha.
I later calculated the mahjong result carefully. I won 14 yuan in the first half and lost 14 yuan in the second half. Overall, I neither won nor lost. At most, I could say I won back the table fee.