Tooth in Eye Surgery!!!

         This week in AP Pschology, I found that learning about the eye in detail was illuminating (no pun intended), particularly learning about the structure. The eye, according to the game "Beat the Parents", contains over 4 million parts, making it the most complex "thing" in the body. Instead of trying to describe the structure of the eye is, here's a picture (there's a random space and I couldn't figure out how to get rid of it):

         The cornea is a protective film on the outside of the eye, without which we would be able to stick our fingers into our pupils, which is utterly disgusting and I'm going to stop talking about it now. 

        The pupil, an empty space between the iris, expands and contracts and allows light in. The iris (the pretty part) is a colored muscle that, like the pupil, expands and contracts to let light in. The lens bends the light waves, which then land on the retina. When the lens either over-bends or under-bends the light waves, it results in the need for glasses. 

         The transduction, or transformation into neural messages, of the physical energy of the light waves takes place inside the retina. When transduction occurs, the energy triggers action potential inside the rods and cones, which process color and black and white. The neural messages then continue on through different types of cells until it is relayed to the visual cortex, where sight takes place. 

         I decided to find out if my grandfather was misinformed by looking up the story of the woman with the tooth under her eye and guess what? He was right!! In 2009, doctors in Florida took a blind woman's tooth and used it to restore her vision. The procedure has some really long fancy name that probably no one can pronounce: osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis (or MOOKP). According to one of the doctors, the patient's eye was completely damaged, with no wetness or tears or anything. 

          The procedure began by removing a tooth from the patient's mouth and preparing an implant of her own dental tissue for her eye, where it would be used as a new cornea. They then removed a section of her cheek (ew) that would become the tissue around her pupil. Finally, the doctors implanted the tooth (now with a hole drilled in the middle) to support the fake lens. One of the doctors explained that they used the tooth as a platform to put the optical cylinder in the eye. 

         After the first day, the patient was able to see 20/70. At first she was not allowed to drive, but she could see her surroundings. How cool is that!?!

Link to full article: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Technology/woman-regains-vision-tooth-implanted-eye/story?id=8595589