My short horror story TOOTH AND BONE will appear in Short Sips, the second volume of Coffee House Flash Fiction from Wicked East Press. The story details the unfortunate meeting of an unscrupulous dentist and a patient in dire need of the dental arts.
I’ve spent a lot of time in dentist chairs, and that is where this story was conceived. I was going through a particularly vigorous deep gum cleaning when I thought, “How strange it must be to put your hands into a total stranger’s mouth?” The story came back to me recently as I was having a root canal performed (for a second time). I kept the thinking about it when I lost
the crown on the fresh root canal. By the time I went back for the new crown I owed nearly $2,000.
The dentist had a long list of other things that needed to be done. And things that needed to be redone. This may have colored the tone of the final story a bit. It’s not a happy story, but I hope you’ll think it’s a fun one.
My dentist says that if you ignore your teeth they’ll go away. I say watch where you put your fingers.
Author Jeff C. Carter 