"I am nervous and excited at the possibility that we will be able to fully sequence John Lennon's DNA, very soon I hope. With researchers working on ways to clone mammoths, the same technology certainly could make human cloning reality," Zuk said.

Further details of the research project are still being kept confidential. Zuk told Dental Tribune ONLINE that he had asked the scientists to halt any procedures until the interest of a film crew to document each step has been secured.

In the 1960s, the famous John Lennon gave the tooth to his housekeeper, whose family auctioned it in November 2011. The tooth has appeared in a number of media reports and television documentaries since then. Last year, Zuk partnered with celebrity jeweler Ari Soffer to design three John Lennon DNA pendants valued at $25,000 each. Within the scope of a mouth cancer awareness campaign, one pendant was sent to a group of dentists in the U.K. who were offering free mouth cancer screening.

Zuk writes a blog for Dental Tribune International, the Un-Cosmetic Dentist.