Smiling with one’s eyes has taken on a whole new meaning. Your teeth can now be used to fix some vision problems. As bizarre as it sounds it’s the 'tooth.'
Start here. (READ)
Canadian man undergoes "tooth in eye" surgery to restore his sight, the first of its kind in Canada.
The procedure uses a tooth of the patient to be used as a structure for an artificial cornea.
Before the tooth can be put in the eye, it is placed in the cheek, following it being shaved into a rectangle. A hole is drilled in the tooth and a lens is placed inside.
The tooth is then implanted in the cheek for three months."[The tooth] doesn’t have any connective tissue that I can actually pass a suture through to connect it to the eyeball. So the point of implanting it for three months is for it to gain the layer of supporting tissue," said Dr. Greg Moloney.
Patient Brent Chapman has already had the first surgery and will be going onto phase 2 when it's time to remove the tooth from the cheek.
The second surgery will require doctors to remove Chapman's iris and lens, before sewing the tooth into his eye.
If successful, Chapman will be able to see through the small hole.
Turn your eyes here. (WATCH)
Canadian man undergoes "tooth in eye" surgery to restore his sight, the first of its kind in Canada.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 2, 2025
The procedure uses a tooth of the patient to be used as a structure for an artificial cornea.
Before the tooth can be put in the eye, it is placed in the cheek, following it… pic.twitter.com/4M9zz1VFFx
It still seems too strange to be true. Commenters say it’s certainly something that’s come completely out of nowhere.
Did not have ‘TEETH CAN SEE” on my bingo card.
— MikeMac (@xMikeMac) March 2, 2025
But… 2025, so…
A pretty bizarre procedure.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 2, 2025
I'm just wondering how someone came up with this.
A plastic surgeon on X volunteered some background. He says similar procedures are used in repairing damaged noses.
From a plastic surgery perspective, it’s very innovative and uses concepts we already use elsewhere.
— Plasticolicious, MD💈 (@plasticolicious) March 3, 2025
Tooth is (somewhat) disposable. It’s your own. Use it for structure. Leave it in cheek to grow tissue for suturing and blood flow. Transfer to eye where you suture it. Beautiful.
It sounds preposterous and miraculous at the same time.
— MikeMac (@xMikeMac) March 3, 2025
I’d literally be walking around telling people I have a tooth in my eye.
It’s a concept called “banking”. You can bank tissue within the soft tissue to use later.
— Plasticolicious, MD💈 (@plasticolicious) March 3, 2025
For example, you can bank rib cartilage in the scalp after using some of it for nasal reconstruction. You know… just in case you need some later.
Plastic surgery is crazy sometimes.
Posters were having some fun with how having teeth in one’s eye will mess with our language and familiar phrases.
POV you make eye contact: 👁️🦷
— Phantom Platypus (@PhantomPlatypus) March 2, 2025
It is now called "Tooth Contact."
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 2, 2025
Eye for a eye
— Mr.Roundtree (@roundtree_mr) March 2, 2025
Tooth for a tooth
Tooth for a eye?
We already have the word ‘eyetooth’, which refers to our canine teeth; now, it could have a more literal meaning. We still can’t get over the fact that we could be looking at someone with a tooth inside their eye.