Richard Madeley has been called out live on Good Morning Britain for his “absolutely wrong” claim about dentists.
Madeley was co-presenting the ITV series on Tuesday (22 November), when he claimed that he was told NHS dentists were unable to perform tooth extractions.
“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 anymore,” he said, adding: “They are simply not trained up to the level, they are not confident doing extractions.”
Reid, pre-empting a backlash from angry viewers, replied: “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.”
However, Madeley remained undeterred, adding: “They’re simply not trained up to the level, they’re not confident to do extractions. 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.”
As Reid predicted, viewers were left enraged, with one branding Madeley to be “full of s***”
@muttlysaid: “As usual, Richard Madeley is talking utter s***. My brother is a dentist & he takes a lot of nhs patients.”
@Grethe1956 added: “Sounds to me like Richard Madeley has never been to a NHS dentist in his life. Mine does extractions, crowns, fillings and everything! And he will do it privately as well if you’re willing to pay for it. Yet again Richard Madeley proves he’s an idiot.”
@peepandpolI wrote: “Must have dreamed about that NHS dentist extracting my tooth because Richard Madeley says somebody told him they are not trained to do this... Yes, definitely dreaming...”
The Independent has contacted GMB for comment
