Origin

Berenice was a happy child who grew up in a affluent home with her cousin Egaeus.  Egaeus was nothing like Berenice but when they got older they married and soon after Berenice took ill and became very emaciated.  One morning she was found dead sized by epilepsy and she is quickly buried.  Egaeus exhumes her body in an almost trance state unable to stop thinking her her teeth.  He then removes all her teeth from Berenice who turs out to be very much alive after all.

Creation

Berenice is the focus in the short story Berenice by Edgar Allan Poe.  The story is a mystery after it is read because the narrated Egaeus is mad and prone to blacking out.  He is woken at the end of the story only to find he has a box containing Berenice's teeth.