Seeing clearly: Martin Jones opens his newly-sighted eye fitted with a tooth

A blind man is able to see his wife for the first time - after having a tooth implanted into his eye.

Martin Jones had one of his front teeth removed and turned into a lens holder before it was inserted in his right eye.

The former builder, who married his spouse Gill four years ago, can now see for the first time since a tub of molten aluminium exploded in his face 12 years ago.

Mr Jones, 42, said: I met my wife when I was blind and when I found out there was a chance I would get my sight back the first person I wanted to see was her.

The doctors took the bandages off and it was like looking through water and then I saw this figure and it was her. It was unbelievable.

If felt fantastic getting my sight back. I cant describe it, it is beyond words.

Martin, of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, was blinded when 600C aluminium blew up in his face while he was working in a scrapyard in 1997.

He suffered 37 per cent burns and had his left eye removed after it was destroyed in the accident.

Doctors saved his other eye but the retina was badly damaged and he was told he would probably never see again.

He had treatment at a specialist eye hospital in Nottingham and doctors tried to use stem cells from a donor but it was unsuccessful.

His life changed when he underwent the pioneering operation carried out by Brighton surgeon Christopher Lui.

He is the only person in the UK who can carry out the procedure known as Osteo-Odonto-Keratoprosthesis, which was first pioneered by Italian Professor Benedetto Strampelli in 1963.

Dr Liu used Mr Jones' canine as holder for a special optical lens which allows light into his eye so he can see.

The process requires a living tooth as an implant because doctors suggest there are chances the eye would reject a plastic equivalent.

Surgeon: Christopher Liu used a living tooth to carry a new lens because Mr Jones' eye could reject a plastic implant

So a canine - which is the best option due to its shape and size - was taken out of Mr Jones' mouth along with its root and part of the jaw.

It was then moulded into a cube with a hole drilled though the centre where a lens was placed. 

The re-modelled tooth was then inserted into his cheek for three months to enable it to grow new tissue and *lo** vessels, which helped it to embed in the eye.

In a delicate eight-hour operation the tooth is then removed and stitched into place behind a skin graft over Mr Jones eye.

Within a fortnight he had almost perfect vision in his right eye.

He said: I was blind for 12 years and when my sight came back everything changed.

The first car I saw when my sight was restored was a Smart car and I couldnt stop laughing. I thought who had chopped the car in half.

Getting my sight back has changed my life. I find pleasure in being able to see what is going on in the world.

Mr Jones had been walking with a white stick after the accident and gave talks at blind centres to teach people to be guides for the blind.

He met care worker Gill, 50, there and married her in 2005.

He said: When I first heard about the technique I couldnt believe it. I dont think many people can.

My friends just dont believe me. They think I am pulling their leg or have made it up.

But when I take my glasses off they say "oh my God" because it looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. They are just amazed by it.