Richard Madeley claimed he was 'just the messenger' as he came under fire for his comments on the crisis facing NHS dentistry. The presenter was back on Good Morning Britain on Wednesday (November 23) and was forced to address his comments from the previous day's show.
He and Susanna Reid were joined live in the studio by the chair of the British Dental Association who refuted Richard's claims that "NHS dentists are not capable of doing extractions". On Tuesday's show (November 23), Richard said: "I was talking to a private dentist only last week, who was saying that so many people now have to go private because NHS dentists are not capable of doing extractions any more.
“They are simply not trained up to the level, they are not confident doing extractions." Already sensing that his comments wouldn't have gone down well, Susanna interjected: "Oh, what’s that sound I hear? Oh yes, it’s all the NHS dentists getting in touch with the programme to say that that is absolutely wrong."
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“They’re simply not trained up to the level, they’re not confident to do extractions,” Richard still continued. "What they tend to do is to refer. They’ll give you antibiotics for an infected tooth because they won’t pull it out. You’ll be referred to casualty." However, the former This Morning host was criticised by British Dental Association chair Eddie Crouch who said: "Richard Madeley has offered a grotesque misrepresentation of a crisis facing millions of patients.
"His categorical facts are pure fiction. Dentists have the training, what’s really missing is the political will at Westminster to save this service. NHS dentistry is at a tipping point and requires fair funding and real reform. It can do without the musings of armchair pundits."
And Mr Crouch was therefore inivted onto the show to discuss the struggled NHS dentistry are facing. Responding to what happened, Mr Crouch said: "Yesterday morning my phone never stopped ringing from early in the morning when people were getting so angry about the fact that you were castigating really many people who work very very hard at the coalface every day doing exactly the thing that you said the NHS dentists don't do."
Richard then asked if he meant pulling teeth to which Mr Crouch agreed. He continued: "Many of my colleagues work both in the NHS and privately and I guess you were trying to intimate that it was only when they [private dentists] were doing NHS patients so they weren't taking teeth out and that is completely wrong."
He blamed any problems with people being able to have a tooth extraction on the NHS on a lack of workforce or if the repairs cost too much money to correct, in which case, they would be referred. But Richard replied: "I would say, don't shoot the messenger. I'm a reporter and I report what I'm told. It wasn't my personal opinion yesterday, I was reporting what a veteran dentist had told me."
He added: "It sparked a huge response from people!" before the TV star, 62, read out two tweets from people who claim that the NHS refused to take their teeth out. Richard then shared a quote from the Vice Chairman’s in-house journal which stated that recently graduated dentists were taught how to take teeth out but their confidence levels were low.
Richard commented: “That’s the point! they’re trained, yes of course they’re trained to do it. But they seem very unwilling to get the forceps out to get the teeth out." Eddie replied: "The vast majority of my colleagues build up confidence throughout their career, I qualified 38 years ago, and I'm certainly confident in doing lots and lots of things.
"Lots of my younger colleagues who’ve actually trained through a pandemic and perhaps not had the experience within the dental school are coming out probably a bit less experienced and worried about that but they will gain that experience with time." Despite their disagreement, Mr Crouch and Richard ended the interview with a handshake much to Susanna's delight.
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