A revolutionary groundbreaking surgery called osteo-odonto keratoprosthesis gave John Inges, 72, from Australia his vision back using one of his teeth.
Sixteen years ago, Ings, then 58 years old, contracted herpes simplex, which attacked his eyes and almost blinded him. “My vision has been getting worse over the last 16 years, until I could not see my from my right eye at all and could barely see from my left eye,” he said.
He recently underwent an innovative surgery at a hospital in Sydney, Australia, carried out by two students from the University of New South Wales, one a mouth and jaw specialist Shannon Webber and the other an eye surgeon Greg Moloney. The operation was successful and Ings got the gift of vision back.
In the groundbreaking operation, a tooth was extracted from Ings’ mouth, some bone tissue drilled out and a plastic lens was installed. The tooth was re-implanted in the patient's mouth, and after three months-when tissue grew and developed an independent blood supply, it was surgically reassembled and inserted into the patient's old cornea.
Finally, the surgeons opened the skin next to the plastic lens and the patient could now see through it.
Dr. Weber, one of the two surgeons, explained that “we relied on the tooth to develop tissue and a system of blood vessels to the point where we remove it from the mouth and get living tissue.”