For the first time, Canadian surgeons have successfully completed the first stage of a procedure that restores vision to people with a type of severe blindness by implanting a tooth in their eyes.

Tooth-In-Eye Surgery

Surgeons Can Implant Teeth In Blind Patients’ Eyes To Restore Their Sight; Photo: RusAKphoto:Shutterstock
Photo: RusAKphoto/Shutterstock

The operation is called osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis or “tooth-in-eye” surgery. It was recently performed on three patients with severe corneal blindness at Mount Saint Joseph Hospital in Vancouver.

The cornea, or the clear outer layer at the front of the eye that allows light to enter and focus, is scarred in people with corneal blindness, which affects their ability to see. The procedure, which originated in the 1960s, has since been refined and performed in Canada for the first time.

Tooth-in-eye surgery first involves removing the patient’s cornea and any scar tissue and replacing it with tissue taken from the cheek. Then, an implant is created, which involves extracting one of the patient’s teeth, shaving it into a rectangle, and drilling a hole to hold a plastic optical lens. The crafted tooth is placed inside the patient’s cheek for approximately three months to develop new tissue and blood supply.

The second stage of the surgery entails removing the implant from the cheek and putting it into the patient’s eye. The plastic lens allows light through, restoring the subject’s vision.

“It’s like replacing the windshield on a car when it’s totally frosted over,” Dr Greg Moloney, who led the Canadian surgeries, told the Vancouver Sun.

The fact that teeth are tough and that the patient’s own tooth is being used increases the odds that the implant will be accepted by the body long-term. As Moloney told CBC Radio’s As It Happens, “There is no risk of rejection because we’re using part of the patient’s own body.”

A second surgery has been scheduled for the three patients’ later this year. One of the patients, Gail Chapman, is hopeful for the next steps of the procedure.

“I haven’t seen myself for 10 years,” Chapman told the Vancouver Sun. “If I’m fortune enough to get some sight back, there will be wonderful things to see.”