Emmerdale star tearful as she gets new teeth after bulimia made them drop out

Emmerdale actress Gemma Oaten has revealed the tearful moment she had all of her top teeth replaced after battling an eating disorder.

The 38 year old, who played Rachel Breckle in Emmerdale and Isla Haywood in Coronation Street, has struggled with anorexia and bulimia from a young age, which had caused irreparable damage to her tooth enamel.

Gemma first told fans that she had been going in for an unnamed surgery back in June. Now sharing the results, the actress said she cried tears of joy as she got her smile back after life-changing dental surgery, telling her dentist: “You have changed the course of my life”.

Sharing the emotional moment on Instagram, along with the tearful moment she saw the end result with dentist Dr Harry Davis at his Harley Street clinic, she told fans: “I have my teeth back. I have not had this for 20 years. The bulimia stripped all my enamel and I've always been so self conscious and now I've got a full set of teeth."

Speaking out about the journey, Gemma said she doesn’t want others to “feel ashamed” if they have also struggled with eating disorders.

Sharing before and after photos of her smile to Instagram, Gemma wrote: “Six weeks after surgery… Finally feel brave enough and ready to share my new smile.

“I've not had my smile for, I would say, 17 years. The anorexia and bulimia robbed me of it.

"But no one talks about it. No one talks about how ALL eating disorders rob those affected of so much. No one talks about the pain and physical effects because they are made to feel ashamed.

"No one talks about eating disorders and the effect on teeth, and I wish to god someone had when I was struggling, if they had I may not have had to lose all my top teeth… but I'll use this as I always do, to grow flowers where dirt used to be in the hope it helps others.

Gemma then added: "This stigma must end. An eating disorder is NOT a choice."

Fourteen years ago Gemma was discharged from therapy for the eating disorders that had been part of her life for 13 years. She now helps others as manager and patron of the eating disorder support service Seed.

Speaking on GB News with hosts Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster about her experience, she said: “This is one of the parts of the eating disorder that people don't discuss because your teeth are integral to life and to think that they could go, it’s not something that you want to even contemplate.

“An eating disorder is very manipulative, it's very secretive., it makes you feel very ashamed. I know because I felt disgusted. I was made to feel disgusting by my dentist when I was younger. I remember going to the dentist when the acid was eroding my teeth.”

She continued: “I felt so much less of a person for so many years. And I think this is what a lot of people with eating disorders feel like. They feel like they haven't got a voice and they lose identity because the eating disorder takes that away.

"It's a mental health illness but I do feel like now I've actually got the chance of moving forward with my life.”

Gemma told them about her journey, saying: “I recovered 14 years ago but the journey is ongoing. The ramifications on my physical health have been vast.

“It's been a massive shock to the system but a lot of people I've spoken to about out about it are going through this. Early intervention is the key.

“The sooner you get help, the sooner somebody can come back from the brink of losing their life – I don't just mean physically losing their life, but mentally losing their life for all of these years. It's an incredibly serious illness.”

For help and advice on eating disorders visit beateatingdisorders.org.uk.

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