A seeing . . . tooth???

We read the following in this news report:

An Irishman blinded by an explosion two years ago has had his sight restored after doctors inserted his son's tooth in his eye.

Let me get this straight. This guy is seeing through a tooth?

Well, apparently, sort of, yes.

It seems there's an operation called - wait for it - "Osteo-Odonto-Keratoprosthesis", known for short as OOKP.

The technique, pioneered in Italy in the 1960s, involves creating a support for an artificial cornea from the patient's own tooth and the surrounding bone.

The procedure used on McNichol involved his son Robert, 23, donating a tooth, its root and part of the jaw.

McNichol's right eye socket was rebuilt, part of the tooth inserted and a lens inserted in a hole drilled in the tooth.

Color me amazed. I'd never heard of this: but if it works (as this operation seems to have done) then more power to them. Still, the thought of seeing through a tooth is somewhat mind-boggling, isn't it?

Peter