We’ve all heard about eye teeth, but have you ever heard of a tooth helping someone regain their sight? Without a doubt, the story sounds incredible, but it’s true.
Sixty-year-old Sharron “Kay” Thornton became blind in both eyes after contracting a rare illness, Stevens-Johnson syndrome, nine years earlier. The damage to the cornea from scarring left doctors unable to try more traditional treatment, like cornea transplants. Doctors tried a stem cell procedure but that was unsuccessful.
As a last ditch attempt to help Kay regain her vision, eye surgeons decided to try a relatively rare procedure called a modified osteo-odonto-keatroprosthesis. Only 600 have been performed throughout the world so far.
The procedure involves taking the canine tooth, also called the eye…