For the 1st time in Canada, surgeons put teeth in patients’ eyes to restore sight – CBC

Surgery aims to restore sight by implanting a telescopic lens in a tooth

Feb 27, 2025

When Brent Chapman’s doctor first pitched him on the idea of having one of his own teeth surgically embedded in his eye to restore his sight, he says he felt “a little apprehensive.”

But then he spoke to a woman in Australia who had undergone the same procedure to tremendous success.

“She had been completely blind for 20 years, and is now snow skiing,” Chapman, 33, of North Vancouver, said. “I know it sounds a little crazy and science fiction-y.”

Chapman, who is blind in both eyes, is one of three Canadians undergoing osteo-odonto keratoprosthesis (OOKP) — or as it’s more commonly known, tooth-in-eye surgery — at a B.C. hospital this week.

It involves removing a patient’s tooth, usually the canine, installing a plastic optical lens inside it, and then implanting the whole thing into the eye.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/tooth-in-eye-surgery-canada-1.7470626