Dr. Mehta had been a dentist for twenty-three years. In all that time, he had encountered hundreds of unusual patients, but none quite like Mr. Kapoor.
The first appointment was unremarkable.
Mr. Kapoor, a man in his late fifties, complained of a severe toothache on the lower left side of his mouth. Dr. Mehta examined him, took an X-ray and found nothing unusual.
There was just one problem.
Mr. Kapoor had no teeth left.
"Are you sure the pain is coming from here?" Dr. Mehta asked, pointing towards his lower jaw.
"Absolutely, Doctor. It's the same tooth every time."
Dr. Mehta explained that some people experience phantom tooth pain even after extraction. He prescribed medication and asked him to return if the pain persisted.
Three weeks later, Mr. Kapoor returned.
"The pain hasn't stopped."
Dr. Mehta examined his mouth again. Everything looked normal.
"Perhaps we should refer you to a specialist," he suggested.
Mr. Kapoor shook his head.
"There's something growing in there."
Dr. Mehta sighed. He had heard similar complaints before. He gently pressed the patient's gums, asking him to identify the painful area.
Mr. Kapoor suddenly grabbed his wrist.
"Careful. You'll hurt it."
Dr. Mehta pulled away.
"There's nothing there, Mr. Kapoor."
The patient looked disappointed.
"That's what the other doctor said."
Dr. Mehta paused.
"Other doctor?"
Mr. Kapoor nodded.
"He pulled it out last time."
Before Dr. Mehta could ask another question, the patient stood up and left.
A month passed.
Mr. Kapoor returned for a third appointment.
This time, Dr. Mehta noticed something unusual as soon as he opened the patient's mouth.
There was a small white bump emerging from the gum where the toothache had been.
He leaned closer.
It looked like a tooth.
"Mr. Kapoor, when did this appear?"
"About a week ago."
Dr. Mehta examined it carefully. He couldn't explain what he was seeing. The patient had undergone complete tooth extraction years earlier. There was no reason for a new tooth to appear. He was 58 years old.
He scheduled another examination.
Two weeks later, the tooth had grown considerably.
It was a molar.
More strangely, its surface had a dark cavity running through the centre.
Dr. Mehta stared at it.
He had seen that exact cavity before.
It was identical to one on a tooth he had extracted from Mr. Kapoor during his previous appointment.
He stepped back.
"Mr. Kapoor, where did you get this?"
The patient looked at him.
"You removed it, Doctor."
Dr. Mehta felt a chill.
"That's impossible."
Mr. Kapoor opened his mouth wider.
"Then why does it keep coming back?"
Dr. Mehta couldn't answer.
The patient sat up, wiped his mouth and asked:
"Doctor, could you please remove it again?"
"Why?"
Mr. Kapoor looked almost embarrassed.
"Because it's starting to hurt."
Then he added:
"And I think it's growing another one behind it."
After Mr. Kapoor leaves, Dr. Mehta starts reviewing his old patient records.
He finds the extraction record. The tooth had indeed been removed by him. He even remembers the procedure because the cavity was unusually deep.
But something bothers him.
The extraction had taken place almost eleven months ago.
Mr. Kapoor had never mentioned returning to another dentist, and Dr. Mehta couldn't find any subsequent dental records.
He decides to call him.
No answer.
The following morning, Mr. Kapoor arrives without an appointment.
He doesn't sit down immediately. Instead, he asks Dr. Mehta whether he remembers what happened during his last extraction.
Dr. Mehta says he remembers removing the tooth.
Mr. Kapoor shakes his head.
"No, Doctor. I mean what happened afterwards."
Dr. Mehta asks him to explain.
Mr. Kapoor says that after the extraction, he experienced relief for approximately two weeks. Then the pain returned. He visited another dentist, who discovered that the socket where the tooth had been removed was healing, but something hard was forming underneath it.
The dentist eventually extracted it.
Two weeks later, it returned.
And then again.
Dr. Mehta examines him. The new tooth has grown further. But this time, he notices something that makes him uncomfortable.
The tooth isn't growing randomly.
Its roots appear to be developing in the direction of the neighbouring empty sockets.
He orders another X-ray.
What he sees makes him question everything.
There are multiple small structures beneath the gums. They resemble developing teeth.
But they aren't positioned like normal teeth.
They're arranged in a sequence, almost as though something is attempting to rebuild an entire set of teeth.
Dr. Mehta recommends a biopsy and further investigation.
Mr. Kapoor refuses.
Instead, he asks one question:
"Doctor, have you ever heard of a tooth remembering where it came from?"
That night, Dr. Mehta searches through his old records again.
He discovers something he hadn't noticed before.
Mr. Kapoor's original extraction wasn't the only unusual case in his career.
There were two other patients with similar complaints.
Both had undergone complete dental extraction years earlier.
Both had returned complaining of pain in empty sockets.
And both had eventually stopped visiting.
Dr. Mehta tries to contact them.
One number is disconnected.
The other belongs to a family member who tells him that the patient died several months ago.
Then comes the detail that changes everything.
The family member mentions that, shortly before his death, the man had complained of something growing inside his mouth.
The next morning, Dr. Mehta receives a call from Mr. Kapoor.
His voice is trembling.
"Doctor, I think you should come here."
Dr. Mehta asks what's happened.
Mr. Kapoor replies:
"I think they've started growing everywhere."
And then the line goes dead.
where it goes next
For this story, I would like to take the narrative beyond the conventional horror route. The supernatural element is something I'd definitely like to retain, but I don't want the continuation to simply revolve around the teeth repeatedly growing back or the patient becoming increasingly obsessed with his condition.
I'd like to introduce a more unusual twist, where the audience gradually discovers that there's something else happening with these teeth, something that neither the patient nor the dentist initially understands.
I'd also like to strengthen the psychological horror, but not through predictable elements like obsession, paranoia or hallucinations. Imagine Dr. Mehta discovering that a newly grown tooth inside Mr. Kapoor's mouth has the exact same cavity as a tooth he extracted from an entirely different patient several years ago.
Now the mystery is: whose teeth are they, and how are they ending up inside Mr. Kapoor?
Daniel, an ordinary man, notices something one morning while brushing his teeth. His reflection seems to be moving a fraction of a second behind him.
At first, he lets it go, thinking he's tired. But over the next few days, the delay becomes more noticeable. He starts testing his reflection, making silly faces and body movements to catch it off guard.
He begins checking his reflection more frequently. First, it's the bathroom mirror. Then he starts checking himself in shop windows, the mirrors in movie theatre bathrooms, water ponds and even the black screen of his phone. He finds himself doing it almost unconsciously.
Gradually, he becomes restless whenever he cannot see his reflection. He interrupts conversations to check himself in nearby glass surfaces. He stops in the middle of the road to look at his reflection in parked cars. Even while watching a movie, he keeps opening his phone camera to check his reflection. His friends and colleagues see him doing these weird things, and people around him start noticing too, but Daniel can't explain why he keeps doing it.
Soon, checking his reflection becomes the most important thing in his day. He starts avoiding places that don't have mirrors and finds excuses to leave whenever he feels the urge to check himself. Eventually, he fills his entire bedroom with mirrors, placing them on the walls, doors and even the ceiling so that he can see himself wherever he looks.
But even that isn't enough. He starts moving the mirrors around, trying to find an angle from which he can see himself perfectly. He spends hours standing in the middle of the room, checking one reflection after another.
His life completely falls apart. He stops going to work, barely sleeps and hardly speaks to anyone. All he wants to do is look at himself.
And the weirdest thing is that he no longer cares whether his reflection is moving strangely or not. He just needs to see it.
I have studied psychology for 5 years, so this one is inspired by OCD, where a person has an urge to stop their thoughts, and performs compulsive actions to find relief from the anxiety those thoughts create. The ending is still open.
