Blind Woman’s Tooth Helped Restore Her Sight

For the first time in the US surgeons used a rare procedure to help a blind woman regain her sight: they implanted her own tooth in her eye to hold a prosthetic lens in place.

60-year old Sharron “Kay” Thornton, of Smithdale, Mississippi, who had been blind for nine years, underwent the sight-restoring procedure, known as modified osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis (MOOKP), at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine earlier this month.

“The surgical technique — modified osteo-odonto keratoprosthesis (MOOKP) — has proven effective in cases where severe corneal scarring blocks vision, but the eye remains healthy,” according to the institute. Corneal scarring also can be caused by chemical injuries or burns.

The procedure has been done only about 600 times worldwide, surgeons said.

To start the procedure, surgeons remove a healthy tooth and part of the patient’s jawbone. Perez said Thornton was given a jawbone implant, but she developed a sinus infection, so they removed it. They will try again later.

The tooth and bone were then shaved and sculpted, and a hole was drilled into them to hold the prosthetic lens. Then the whole unit was implanted into Thornton’s chest and left for several months, allowing the tooth and lens to bond. This was then implanted into her eye.

Source: CNN