They were claims that were both dangerous and wrong.
Restore Britain’s Rupert Lowe MP, told the Joe Rogan Experience podcast that migrants “go to the top of the waiting list for dental treatment, which British people don't get.”
Airing last month, the podcast contained numerous inaccurate claims about access to care, and supposed preferential access afforded to migrants.
🦷Migrants don’t "go to the top of the waiting list for dental treatment."
— BDA (@TheBDA) July 22, 2026
We are appalled by the dangerous and inaccurate claims by @RestoreBritain’s @RupertLowe10 MP on migrants and access to dental care, made on the @joerogan podcast earlier this month.
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We stated clearly that while there is dedicated commissioning for a tiny minority of illegal migrants held in detention ahead of deportation - just as there is for other prisoners held in custody in the UK - typical migrants do not get any preferential treatment when it comes to access. New arrivals are usually signposted to services but will struggle to secure a place with an NHS dentist just like UK residents.
This matters. Under the last government we had to dismiss claims from both Conservative MPs and Reform UK that new arrivals were driving an ‘unquenchable demand’ for care and were fuelling the queues seen outside dental practices.
“Yes, NHS dental care is in crisis, but migrants are not at the front of the queue,” said our Chair Eddie Crouch. “Mr Lowe’s statement was both factually incorrect and potentially dangerous rhetoric.”
“As a serving MP, he should check the facts before making claims of this kind and should apologise for misleading the public.”
Unmet need for NHS dental care in England alone remains at near record highs of over 13 million. We have had to say this repeatedly to politicians: it wasn’t migrants that slashed the dental budget. It wasn’t migrants that refused to fix a broken contract fuelling the exodus from the NHS.
The reality is migrant dentists have helped keep a service that millions depend on afloat.
The Joe Rogan Experience reaches a truly global audience. And as the professional body for dentists, when influential voices peddle myths it’s our responsibility to correct the record.
But Mr Lowe sadly remains untroubled by the reality facing millions of patients, including thousands of his own constituents in the dental desert of Great Yarmouth.
Mr Lowe has just come back with freedom of information requests to ‘reveal’ what we stated plainly at the very outset: that just like other prisoners held in custody, there is dedicated commissioning for the roughly 2,000 held in Immigration Removal Centres at any one time. Again, we’ve seen no interest in solving the crisis facing one in four of England’s adult population.
We have since been accused by Mr Lowe’s supporters of being ‘traitors’. Others noted the crisis in dentistry will cease to be when ‘millions are deported.’
And in a preposterous video response to our corrections, Mr Lowe stated “the British Dental Association should be ashamed of themselves.”
“We’re going to continue shaming the malign group of people who are effectively undermining Britain as one of the most successful nations on Earth.”
Well, when it comes to what’s really fuelling the crisis in NHS dentistry we’ll take facts over myths any day.
We would urge all those who feel the same way to sign this message to Andy Burnham and Yvette Cooper.