A DENTIST who bought John Lennon’s tooth is looking for potential love children of the late-Beatle in a bid to stake a claim to his £400million estate.

Dr Michael Zuk, 45, from Alberta, Canada, purchased the legendary songwriter’s decayed molar at auction in 2011 for around £20,000.

8 Dr Michael Zuk, seen holding John Lennon's tooth, wants to find the Beatles singer's love children Credit: Dr Michael Zuk

Lennon, who was shot and killed in New York in 1980, gave the tooth to his beloved housekeeper Dot Jarlett in the 1960s.

Speaking with The Sun Online, the dentist has sensationally revealed that he plans to stake a claim to the music icon’s vast estate using DNA from the body part.

He said: “I am looking for people who believe they are John Lennon’s child and have a claim to his estate and hopefully I can legitimise their claim.

“John was a very popular guy who was having sex with lots of women and I doubt birth control was on his mind.

8 Lennon's estate is worth an estimated £400m Credit: Getty - Contributor

8 The Canadian dentist wants to use DNA from the famous tooth to find stake a claim to the multi-million pound fortune Credit: Dr Michael Zuk

“I would ask anyone who is participating to sign a commission agreement which would mean if they were related they would pay my company a percentage of their inheritance.

“Like a finder’s fee."

The father-of-two, who was born three months before the Beatles’ first single Love Me Do was released, likened his plan to a regular “paternity case.”

He confirmed he is looking for heirs, aged in their 50s, who were born at the height of Beatlemania when young women were throwing themselves at the Fab Four.

Dr Zuk says a woman, who lives in the US, has already contacted him claiming to be the Lennon’s daughter.

But the ambitious dentist admits he is concerned that the claimant has only anecdotal evidence that she is related to the singer.

He added: “I want to hold off testing until I have a small group of hopefuls, or one with a very high supporting story.”

8 Lennon gave the tooth to his housekeeper Dot Jarlett in the 1960s. Jarlett's family eventually sold the body part to Zuik via auction Credit: Getty - Contributor

8 Dr Zuk is looking for heirs aged in their 50s who were born at the height of Beatlemania Credit: Dr Michael Zuk

News footage details the murder of John Lennon in December 1980

The medical professional says he would hire a legal team to work on a “contingency basis” once a lovechild is confirmed.

He said: “If we get a DNA match – lawyers deal with this kind of thing all the time, in divorce or paternity cases.

“Even though you’re dealing with a dead celebrity and millions of dollars – it’s still just a paternity case.”

Despite dying more than 30 years ago, the Imagine hitmaker’s estate is said to be worth more than £400 million.

Lennon Inc, controlled by his second wife Yoko Ono, had an annual income of £10million in 2010 – and business continues to boom.

Zuk believes that Yoko would have a “huge concern” in anyone trying to muscle in on her late husband ‘s empire.

Indeed, the dentist received a legal letter from the Japanese-born artist, 85, after he claimed he would be interested in trying to clone Lennon in 2011.

8 Ringo Starr, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison holding their MBEs in 1965 Credit: PA:Press Association

8 Lennon signing an album owned by his killer Mark Chapman, right, hours before he was shot dead on December 8, 1980 Credit: Popperfoto

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr reunite at world premiere of new Beatles doc

Yoko, who had one child named Sean with the singer, was embroiled in a lengthy legal wrangle with Lennon’s first son Julian in the 1990s.

Fellow musician Julian was abandoned by the troubled songwriter in the 1960s and only received a portion of his estate when Yoko settled out of court nearly 20 years after Lennon’s murder.

Dr Zuk believes Julian, now aged 55, was treated “unfairly”, adding: Why, for example would the legacy not be split evenly between Julian and Sean?”

The New York-born dentist admits that he saw the tooth, which still has some of Lennon's tissue attached to it, as a “business opportunity” when he bought it at auction held in Stockport, UK.

He said: “I bought the tooth – not because it’s a stinky rotten tooth – I was thinking ‘how can I turn this into something which pays for itself.’”

Zuk also obtained Julian's baby tooth, which is wrapped in blood-soaked gauze, as part of the bizarre auction purchase.

8 Lennon's blood-splattered glasses have been used by his widow in anti-gun campaigns Credit: Twitter

Trailer for Ron Howard's 'The Beatles: Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years'

He believes that Lennon's son's tooth, and the accompanying blood, could be used to sure-up any questions about a potential love child's relation to the former pop idol.

Another famous piece of Lennon DNA is his blood-soaked splattered glasses, which he was wearing on the night of his murder, which Yoko still owns and has used in campaigns against gun violence.

Family man Zuk adds: "If people think they have a claim to the estate – they can’t go to Yoko Ono. She isn’t going to swab John Lennon’s bloody glasses."

Zuk, which actually means ‘beatle” in Ukrainian, claims he was offered basketball player Shaquille O’Neal’s tooth but was still “shell-shocked” from the media attention surrounding the Lennon molar.

And he believes that the business of DNA paternity testing could “explode” in the near future.

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He said: “If I were a celebrity I would be careful with hairdressers & dentists since they may easily collect some samples that could result in embarrassment.”

Last year, a woman claiming to be Salvador Dalí's daughter had the artist's body exhumed in an extraordinary paternity case.

And while DNA tests showed that Pilar Abel was not related to the famous surrealist, under Spanish law she would been given rights to a share of his £260m estate if it was proved she was his offspring.

John Lennon

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