A Canadian man is undergoing a revolutionary procedure that sounds like something straight out of a sci-fi movie, but it’s actually legitimate medical science.
Earlier this week, Brent Chapman became one of the first Canadians to undergo a “tooth in eye” surgery.
Doctors are using his actual tooth to help restore his vision.
While this might sound completely wild to most of us, this jaw-dropping procedure (pun absolutely intended) has actually been restoring sight in other parts of the world for decades.
What Even Is A “Tooth In Eye” Surgery?
“It is a rare operation that most people have not heard of, even if you are an eye surgeon,” explained Dr. Greg Moloney, an ophthalmologist and surgeon at Mount Saint Joseph Hospital in Vancouver, in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
The procedure, which has the fancy medical name osteo-odonto keratoprosthesis (OOKP), uses a patient’s own tooth to create a support structure for an artificial cornea. It’s basically like creating a biological frame for a synthetic lens.
How Does The Procedure Actually Work?
Prepare yourself, because this gets wild.
First, Dr. Moloney and his surgical team removed one of Chapman’s teeth, shaved it down into a rectangle, drilled a hole through it, and then inserted a plastic optical lens inside the tooth.
But here’s where it gets even more strange — they then implanted the tooth-lens combo into Chapman’s cheek, where it will stay for about three months.
“(The tooth) doesn’t have any connective tissue that I can actually pass a suture through to connect it to the eyeball,” Moloney told CTV News. “So the point of implanting it for three months is for it to gain the layer of supporting tissue.”
During the same initial procedure, they also prepared Chapman’s eye by removing the top layer of the eye’s surface and replacing it with a soft tissue graft from inside his cheek. This graft needs time to heal so it can eventually support the implant.
The Grand Finale Is Yet To Come
In about three months, Chapman will undergo the second part of the procedure, when his tooth will be removed from his cheek and placed into his eyeball.
The surgical team will pull back the graft, remove Chapman’s damaged iris and lens, and sew the tooth (with its new optical lens) directly into the eye. The graft will then be resewn over the eye, leaving a small hole for the lens to peek through.
The end result will be a pink eye with a small black circle through which Chapman will hopefully be able to see again.
Why A Tooth? That’s Actually Brilliant
Turns out, teeth are perfect for this kind of procedure.
“(Teeth) contains dentin, which is the ideal tissue to house a plastic lens without the body rejecting it,” Moloney explained to The Daily Scan.
Plus, the tissue from the cheek recognizes the tooth as part of the body, making the whole process smoother and reducing the chance of rejection.
This Isn’t For Everyone
Before you start thinking this could be the solution for all vision problems, there are some important caveats.
The surgery is generally reserved as a last-resort option for people with corneal blindness caused by conjunctival scarring from autoimmune diseases, chemical burns, and other traumas — but who still have healthy retinas and optic nerves.
“With any ocular surgery of any kind, there’s a chance that we could introduce infection and lose all our vision,” Moloney told CBC.
However, when successful, the results can be incredibly long-lasting. A 2022 study from Italy found that even 27 years after surgery, 94% of patients still had vision.
Chapman’s Journey Has Been Long And Difficult
For Brent Chapman, this surgery represents hope after a very long struggle.
The 33-year-old massage therapist from North Vancouver has been blind in both eyes due to Stevens-Johnson syndrome, a rare autoimmune reaction that was triggered by a dose of ibuprofen he took after a basketball game when he was just 13 years old.
Over the past 20 years, Chapman has undergone a staggering 50 surgeries all aimed at restoring his sight. Some gave him temporary partial vision, but it always faded away.
“When I get it back, you know, it would be sort of this great rush,” he told CBC. “Then I’d lose it again and it would be heartbreaking, and I sort of sank into this depression.”
A Chance At Permanent Vision
What convinced Chapman to try this unusual procedure? He spoke with an Australian woman who had undergone the same surgery with dramatic results.
“She had been completely blind for 20 years, and is now snow skiing,” he said.
Today, Chapman dares to dream about shooting hoops again and traveling the world — simple pleasures that most of us take for granted.
Chapman is one of six patients in a pilot program at Mount Saint Joseph Hospital. If these surgeries prove successful, Dr. Moloney and his team plan to pitch Health Canada for funding to open the country’s first OOKP clinic.
“If we’re successful in getting this up and running and stabilized in Vancouver, then we will be the only active North American center for the operation,” Moloney said.
Editor’s Note: This article was based on reporting from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), CTV News, and The Daily Scan.