Stephen King had been a regular reader of Cemetery Dance, a horror magazine, and sent an unsolicited short story to be published there in 1992.
The store owner ends up giving Hogan the teeth, claiming they had been dropped and no longer work.
During the struggle, Hogan crashes the van, and before the hitchhiker can fully recover, the teeth come to life and gruesomely disable the criminal by biting his nose and then testicles off.
The store owner's wife recounts how the hitchhiker was found dead out in the desert, presumably killed by wild animals, but also possibly by the teeth, given the large number of bite marks on his body.
His theory is proved correct when a dog snarls at him as he leaves and the teeth stir in his pocket, ready to attack anything that means him harm.