Blind Man Regains Sight Through Tooth

A blinded man from the UK has regained sight in his right eye – through his tooth.

Surgeons have removed a piece of Martin Jones's tooth and fitted a tiny optical lens to it. They then inserted in the tooth in his right eye socket.

It took less than two weeks after the tooth was implanted in his eye socket that he could see through it.

Once the bandages were removed, Jones said it was "like looking through water."

The procedure, which has been performed less than 50 times in the UK, involves pulling a live tooth from the patients gum, reshaping it and chiseling through it in order to insert the man-made lens. A patch of skin is grafted from inside the patient's cheek and placed onto the eye two months before the surgery so it create its own blood supply.

The tooth is then placed in the socket, with the the piece of grafted skin lifted over the new eye to be used as a cornea. Surgeons then cut a hole in the make-shift cornea to allow light to filter through.  

The eight-hour procedure is designed for patients with corneal blindness but are not eligible for cornea transplants.