Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Using a tooth to help the blind




I know this sounds weird, but there is a surgical procedure that uses a tooth implanted in the eye to help some types of blindness. It's called..
Osteo-Odonto-KeratoProsthesis

OOKP:
Osteo=Bone
Odonto=Tooth
Kerato=In this case corneal tissue of the eye
Prothesis=artificial replacement of a body part

Here are a few links:

Opthalmology Report-OOKP in Detail

Here is a CNN Report on this:


4 comments:

Mrs Branham said...

Dear Dr. Brandon:

I have a nine month old daughter and her top two teeth have just broken through the gums... I am concerned because on her right tooth there seems to be a small sack-like piece of tissue protruding from the opening that the toothe has made in her gums. Is this normal? Should I take her to the dentist?

Dr. Dean Brandon said...

It is a reasonable thing to take a child to the pediatric dentist by one year of age--or earlier if you have a concern. Most of the time it's no big deal, but it is good to rule out other weird things that can happen. An erupting tooth, well, the gum tissue should resolve to normal pretty quickly as the tooth erupts-if not, get it examined.

cosmetic dentistry said...

What an amazing sound procedure (though, granted, it does at first seem a bit strange). It is interesting that a connection of this type between teeth and eyes is being forged by contemporary research. Perhaps it's a bit counterintuitive at first, but so is most of nature as we learn about it.
Incredible and informative post Dr. Bradon.

Dr. Dean Brandon said...

Cosmetic. Noticed your link in NYC. I went to school with Dr. Mark Bronsky orthodontist over on Park Avenue and other satellite offices. Great guy.