The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – The Friend “Ly” Forest: An American Adventure in Adverbs and Adjectives by Dr Richard Ly, Brandon Ly

Episode Date: January 16, 2026

The Friend “Ly” Forest: An American Adventure in Adverbs and Adjectives by Dr Richard Ly, Brandon Ly https://www.amazon.com/Friend-Ly-Forest-Adventure-Adjectives/dp/1961225506 The Friend “Ly” Forest: An American Adventure in Adverbs and Adjectives represents our journey through this great country and all the incredible animals we meet along the way. What starts out as a rabbit, “Rich” Ly, chasing a dream and losing his way but eventually learning to appreciate the life he left behind, following the rainbow in hopes of a better life without realizing how great his life already was back home with his best friend, “Devoted” Ly, he realizes very quickly that the grass is not always greener on the other side. Along his adventure to get back home, Rich not only meets the best of what the Forest has to offer, but also the worst. Luckily, his faithful friend, Devoted, is hot on his trail with her relentless pursuit to save him from the dangers and temptations of the Forest. In her quest to rescue her companion, she meets “Fearless” Ly, the baby dragon, and together they have an adventure of a lifetime. Not only do they conquer personal fears, building trust along the way with all the challenges they encounter. Will the lifelong companions be reunited before it’s too late, or is this just the beginning of the story?

You wanted the best... You've got the best podcast. The hottest podcast in the world. In the world. The Chris Voss Show. The preeminent podcast with guests so smart you may experience serious brain bleed. The CEOs, authors, thought leaders, visionaries, and motivators. Get ready.

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Get ready, get ready. Strap yourself in. Keep your hands, arms, and legs inside the vehicle at all times. Because you're about to go on a monster education roller coaster with your brain. Now, here's your host, Chris Voss. And as always, we are just amazing authors. We're going to be talking to it, a very insightful gentleman today. We also have tomorrow, Jason Bourne, the Born Revenge, Robert Ludlunds, Brian Freeman is returning

the show. So stay tuned for that as well. Without further ado, let's bring on our current guest. Dr. Richard Lee is on the show, and we're going to be talking about his book called The Friend Lee Forrest, an American adventure in adverbs and adjectives out April 7, 2024. And I should probably read it because I still don't know what adverbs or adjectives are because I flunked English. That's why I have a podcast. Dr. Richard Lee is a general dentist practicing in Suffolk County, New York. He is also a tenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve stationed in Shoreham, New York for the last 17 years after serving four years in active duty. His son is currently in junior high school in New York City.

We'll be attending high school next year. Are we trying to get dates for this guy? Is that what we're trying to do here? Brandon was the inspiration. I see what I see it was. Brandon was the inspiration behind the book initially. And welcome the show. How are you, Doc?

I'm doing great, great. Nice to finally be here with you. And I'm going to try and call you Rick, as we talked about prior to the show. So, Rick, give us a dot-coms. Where do you want people to find out more about you on the interwebs? So it's funny because the book, a book is on Amazon, but currently the work for the website. is still in the work.

So actually my friend is helping design it. So it's thinking a little bit longer, but he's almost there. So I don't have a plug to that right now, but you can find a book on that. And we'll have a link on the Chris Voss show. And then when you do get that website up, contact the back end of the Chris Voss show, and they'll make sure and add that to the post. That way everyone can find you. Got to have those Google links.

So give us a 30,000 overview. What's inside this book? Okay. So as I mentioned, you know, my co-author. flesh son. He was the inspiration behind the book in the sherry. It's funny,

I'm kind of glad that we had a little free interview before getting on the air to correctly pronounce my last name. Our last name because unfortunately

when you see L.Y, a lot of people automatically, I would say 90% of the people pronounce it lie. And it took many years

of correcting people to say it's the same character as Bruce Lee's last name. It's just but I was born in Vietnam it actually, I guess coming out of Vietnam,

we just somehow learned about things differently. So anyway, it was spelled LY, the same character as Bruce Lee, but anyway, so it was a lot of corrections. And as I got tired of correcting people through the years, the way I would explain it to them was, well, if you put LY behind, you know, any verb, it would turn into an adverb.

So that's how it would explain it to me. I was an adjective. They would turn to add. And they were like, oh, okay, so it kind of quick. I was actually when I first joined the military, I was a private. So that was when I first started thinking, oh, I was actually privately. You know, it spelled out correctly.

Yeah. I thought it privately. Now I'm a little higher in rank. That just means I'm older. But anyway, it was, you know, the correction, I used to, I actually, as a matter of fact, I have all my custom license plates or I went from extremely to fearlessly to, you know, So it was a bunch of weeks. So I filled in my patients, even for 10 years, I treated them.

And I don't know where. I'm like, test them. I'm like, you know, I sell my last name. And for some weird reason, some of them don't. They're like, I know, you know, yeah, here, I could, I don't even know how they found me. But anyway, so I correct them. And I'm kind of like, but it was like the thought process was how to explain. And then, you know, obviously being, because I wasn't born here.

I feel like I have a different appreciation for America. My family, a second chance, you know, coming out of doing. My parents, you know, went through a lot of struggles so that I'm in front of you now. I can, honestly, you think you failed English? I would like to hear with you. That was probably one of my least favorite subjects. If you told me in ninth grade, 10th grade, that I would be writing a book, I would have laughed at you and be like, You get got a kid.

But I feel fortunate because we're in America and I get anything because they're, you know, what is it, 20 something, 30 years. Actually, I'm 50 now. So it's much than 30 something years. Here I am, you know, with my son as inspiration, with our last name as part of, a big part of the inspiration. And we're just trying to kind of like plain the value. A lot of the words, adverts in our adjectives are just meaningful words. you know, affected our lives and how we choose to live our life

in America. And a lot of the characters in the book are the amazing people that we met along the way. There's enough. There you go. There you go. So, I mean, you've taken, you know, I've had to deal with my last name is Voss. And so every time you have to give your name

to somebody, you have to say, Chris, you know, my, and my birth name is Christian. And there's really only one way to spell Christian that I know of. I mean, I suppose you could short-handed or something, but Christian's Christian. Like, you know, Jesus kind of cemented that whole thing with that Bible. You are. You are. But there is still people that they don't know how to spell Christian. They're like, is that with the K? Have you ever met a Christian? Is there a K Christian church somewhere

that I don't know about? And then, you know, and then their favorite thing to do is, I usually tell them Chris Voss. And so I always have to say, V, I learned this from my parents, too. This is passed down through generations, I guess. Where you have to say, my last name is Voss. V's a Victor. O.S.S. As in Sam. And you like have to really like hit the S's. Right. And what they'll do is since my first name is Chris, there's one S at the end. And there's two S's on the Voss. they'll put two S's on the Chris and one S on the Voss and some sort of dyslexic I don't know what it is but they'll they'll switch them I don't know about you but I've never heard of a Chris with two S's I'm not I never heard and so I'm just like what

what planet are you guys from and and I flunk second grade that's actually a call my joke in this book you've you've taken you know this sort of crippling thing that we have to deal with our names and turned it into a positive, turn it into something that's useful and can work. Who's the protagonist in the book? So there's actually three main characters myself, which Rich Lee is the rabbit. I'm the one that's kind of lost in an adventure. So my son, Brandon, he's actually fearlessly. He's the dragon.

He's the baby dragon. But my other counterpart was my first dog Muff. Her name was Muffin, but she was devotedly, so she's the dog. I'm a big dog person, so anyway, they're like family to me. They're like my little babies. So anyway, so Muffin was my first dog. She's kind of on an adventure to save me. And along the way, she meets Brandon, who is fearlessly.

But anyway, so it's me being lost in life, I think, you know, because sometimes, just to let you know, Chris, this is, this book is somewhat, like I said, autobiographical, you know, just from the characters we've met. But it's kind of like some of my internal struggles. It's, um, even though it was intended as a children's book initially to teach about adverse and adjectives, there's a lot of, you know, values, American values, family values that were instilled in me by my parents. Unfortunately, neither of them are with us anymore. But they, they like they gave us a second chance of life here. Um, so a lot of it is that. They're in the book as well, obviously. And, uh, it was, was something that it was very cathartic for me to write this with Brandon because once again

it's honoring our country the life that we have here but there's definitely a lot of things we were able to get into the book where it was the journey is really our journey you know our family's journey even how I got my name Richard because that was not my was not my given name obviously it was the typical three characters but coming out of Vietnam I would tell you so my middle an issue is you, can you guess in a million years you would never guess what the U stands for? I'm sure, I wouldn't. Now is it

Vietnam based or is an American based? It is. It is. So it was kind of like supposedly like, I guess when they try to Elysibate, I guess the Chinese characters. So anyway, but so this is how they spell my name. My name was actually UY-T-R-I.

So how would you pronounce that, Chris? U-R-R-T-Y. So U-Y is the first two, and then a little hyphen, and then capital T-R-I. Yeah. You try? Dude, you would think, right? Actually, the way it's supposed to you pronounce is white tree. Like a white tree.

Yeah. Most people are obviously getting that wrong. Did your parents like you as a child? I'm sorry? Richard, did your parents like you as a child? Yeah, somehow I think they loved me. I know too much to give me that name. But anyway, it was, we talked about the league.

Oh, my goodness. You go to U-Y-T-R-I, and you're just totally in a different planet, basically, of how to pronounce things. So anyways, once I got my citizenship, I think in somewhere in elementary school, I actually chose the name Richard to honor my uncle Richard, who, yeah, he was actually a Marine that met my family in Vietnam. And he loved my family so much. He ended up going back after he did his service. just to reunite with my family. Ended up becoming like one of my closest, our closest family friends. So even when we immigrated here, he helped to support us to get us on our feet and stuff.

That is awesome. And he's still alive, thank goodness, with us. He's down in Virginia. And he, it's just amazing. So I chose his name because I loved Uncle Richard. He was the cool uncle that shows up every now and then. He had the dog. He had the life of being an American, I guess.

I don't know. Yeah. But I always, I admired him so much. I chose his name. That's cool. That's cool to homage to him. Now, did he meet your family during the Vietnam War? He did.

So he was a Marine that served in Vietnam. And he actually met my parents through a mutual friend. But he ended up becoming close with my family. So he, yeah. So it's just kind of, like I said, he's by as close an uncle as I would imagine in my life. You know, so. Yeah. Did your family end up going through?

Who was the, who was the, I forget, I don't know what's going on with me today, but Who was the people who took over after Saigon fell and they had, you know, the killing fields and all those people? Was your family still in Vietnam during that whole time after? So, yeah, I'm not sure the dates of what events that you just described, but I, so I was born in 1975 in February and it felt a convalue. Communism about two months later on, I think it's April 30th. Yeah. So our family was still there for a couple of years. We didn't leave the country until, I think it was 1977, 78, kind of that time frame.

Yeah. And actually, that's kind of an interesting story in itself, because actually, because most Vietnamese, they actually left by refugee boats and stuff, right? But my parents actually, my mom, and particularly she had heard about all the horror stories of being in the open seas. You don't know how long you're going to be there. And unfortunately, having two toddlers, they were saying that, you know, a lot of times they don't make the trip because dehydration, hunger, whatever, famine. And they said if they pass away, they literally just toss the bodies overboard. So those are the stories she heard.

So she actually devised a plan for one of her elder. siblings, my fourth uncle and his wife to bring us out of the country. They had already immigrated to Hong Kong at the time. So they were able to, we literally were pretending to be their kids in order to get out of the country. Oh, wow. And my parents ended up coming out by refugee boat, was picked up by, I believe, Singapore's, their, you know, Coast Guard or whatever. And they ended up being in the refugee camps.

And I want to say maybe a month or two later, they were picked up. accepted by America to come over. But we were lucky because we actually had two aunts on my mom's side of the family who had already immigrated over and they were living in Texas at the time. Oh, wow. That's what an amazing story. Yeah, Saigon fell on April 30th, 1975. I'll never forget the picture of the helicopter.

Yeah. What amazing story. Now, did you, what are your first memories? Do you have memories living in that time? Do you have memories doing the, being on the boat? When did you kind of come of age with your memories? So, Chris, I mean, that's a great question. So I was only, let's just say about two and a half at the time.

And honestly, I have no recollection. I have some memories, not too vivid of being in Hong Kong, you know, after we went out. And it's just very, I mean, just a couple of small memories with a dog or goldfish. I mean, it wasn't even anything that I could even piece together. My brother is 15 months older than me. And he definitely has a little bit, he always has. a better memory than me, but he has a better recollection of some of the events, you know,

even though, but he was only maybe four at the time, so he, even he didn't really remember that much of it. But we were fortunate enough to be reunited with our parents in Texas, you know, like maybe six months afterwards. Yeah. I remember it was the regime of the pole pot.

That's what I was trying to remember. Okay. And they had those killing fields and the slaughters that took place and all the, all the horrific things that went on there. So, yeah, I'm glad you, your family escaped that and you guys found a way out, you know. And this is a wonderful immigrant story of people who come to America and love, you know, it's funny. More people I see that immigrate to America become American citizens.

They generally love and know more about this country than most average Americans. Like most average Americans, they can't pass a citizenship test. Right. I'm not sure I could, really, serious. I mean, I've studied a lot of history. I think I would have some true. trouble nowadays too, but that's sad. Just from memory, I mean, but, you know, they still did teach us history in high school.

I don't even know if they teach history anymore, what kind of history they teach. But it's so good you got out of there. And you've made this book just an homage to your experiences becoming an American citizen and everything else. And it's amazing how much, you know, a friend of mine who came from Argentina and he went through the hell in Argentina when, you know, it was the fascist regime down there. and armed people going door to door and violence and killings and everything else. You know, he's up here in America and, you know, they really, people really appreciate what our democracy is and they value it.

I think immigrants value more than anything else. And it's just a shame to me. And it's kind of one of those things where you're spoiled. I've felt spoiled as an American where I'm just like, this is normal, but it's not normal. It's very, you know, people, people will bet their lives to come here. That's how much they believe in American Dream. And also, how much they're trying to get away from the hell that is around the earth. So, we're sure where we are in 2025, or 2026, I guess I have to start saying, no.

Anyway, so is there, are you going to make this a series? Are there going to be some follow-up books maybe to it? So, as I mentioned before to you, Chris, hopefully, yes. It's already kind of in the works. Getting time, enough time to dedicate and write is, you know, it takes time, obviously, because anything I do has to be obviously meaningful and, you know, detailed. And because we also did the illustrations ourselves is a lot involved in creating the characters and stuff. But, you know, but inspiration is a good thing because there are two things that are inspiring the next potential books. One is dentistry and others in military.

I had mentioned to you before that those are the two careers that I've had. I've been fortunate enough to have that has shaped my life and I'm the person you are in front of you right now because a lot of it is because of them. Obviously my parents, the influence of, you know, knowing how to treat people right and all that stuff, the values. But, but no, the careers really allowed me to flourish, I guess, as a person. And anyway, but so it's, it's dentistry is definitely on the forefront. We had talked briefly about dental anxieties and stuff. So actually, the dental book is actually not monitoring dentistry. Because it's actually come a long way, especially technologically, but also just to keep patients come more comfortable and, you know, all that.

Although it's still most of my patients, I worked for a company for 20 years. The name was gentle dental. I think it really, like, you know, it resonated with patients that have anxiety. they find it, it's catchy, but more importantly, we try to live up to that aspect of dentistry. And anyway, but they got taken over by Dental 365, which is the company I'm working for now in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. But yeah, but they hold the same values of trying to keep patients as comfortable as possible. And modern day dentistry definitely isn't the same as what it used to be. Even for myself, I chose to become a dentist.

Kind of a lot of it was to appease my mom because she wanted something to a doctor in the family. family, but some of it was, yeah, exactly. But it's funny because when you're in high school and your mom wants you to be a doctor, all I thought was, you know what, I don't want to deal with life and death. You know what? Being in debt, it seems kind of okay. Maybe I can make a difference in someone else's life, you know, maybe make the experience not as traumatic, I guess, as what I had.

Because being from immigrant insurance, I mean, honestly, oral hygiene was not on the forefront of anything. So sometimes you went to sleep without brushing our teeth. So my baby teeth were horrendous. Honestly, I don't think I even smiled in photos until I was probably maybe late teens because you kind of learn to conceal your smile when you have, you know, like almost like baby rot on your front teeth, you know. And it just shows the importance of what the image of, you know, how people see themselves. If, you know, if there's something, you know, wrong with their front teeth, you know, because people see your eyes, they see your teeth, you know. Those are kind of two things that stand out when you're talking.

to someone. And anyway, so I'm fortunate enough to be in a situation where the career, as I've met the most amazing patients and friends through being a dentist, and also being able to change people's lives sometimes in one visit, sometimes in multiple visits, but alleviating some of the anxieties and stuff. So the book, the second book, was going to be geared towards hopefully helping people and patients, maybe with their dental anxieties. So anyway, yeah. Now, did you have problems With getting your teeth fixed, you mentioned that there was something that you went through, was it just the exposure of having

those bad teeth or did you have to go to the dentist and do some repairing? It wasn't fun. Yeah, so a lot of teeth, teeth pulling, I mean, there definitely was some drilling because it was back in the day, I don't know if you remember, Chris, you're much younger than I am, but anyway, so remember when you smelled everything

with the, there wasn't any water coming out of the hand pieces, so literally it permeated the air. So as soon as you walked into the office, it would have smelled like burnt, whatever it is, you know?

So I just remembered that aspect of it. It was in Chinatown. Look, I mean, I was fortunate enough that my parents were able to bring me to a dentist because somehow I learned a lesson and I was able to take care of my grown-up teeth.

But, so I would definitely fortunate because I don't think anybody wants a dentist with no teeth. But it's been, you know, the experience of being a patient back then, I think definitely shape. Yeah, and I can't even tell

I say the dentist was bad. It was just the technology wasn't quite there. You know, there's only so much he could do, I think. You know, everything was always an experience, you know, and it was talking about PTSD. Oh, my God. Every time I went, it was almost like, you know, it's funny. It was across the street, the dental office was across the street from this beautiful park in Columbus.

It was called Columbus Park. And my parents would go shopping, you know, grocery shopping every weekend in Chinatown. But it's funny because every time we've won. walk by the park and a part of you is like hoping you're going to the park but honestly chris we never went to the park it was always to the dentist and i was like oh my god you you still i could still remember the seriously it was horrible i mean so you could see the pastel yellow it was a glass of the door on the first floor and the dental office was on the second floor that got a good look of the park but we got never got to play in the park oh you know so anyway it was just something that may be but

It ingrained in me that the importance of dentistry. And somehow it made me select that as a career. And I think I was just more lucky than good. It turned out to be something that I really love and value, basically. The person I am is because of that. Well, some things you shape. And I'm glad you made your mom's dream come true of getting a doctor in the thing without, you know, I mean, I would, you know, that would be the toughest thing for me to be a doctor of, you know, where he's in ER and there's people that are passing. away or a vet. I couldn't be a vet because

dogs passing. Exactly. Exactly. You love animal. I'm a dog person too, so yeah. And never fun. But God bless those people that can do that because without them, he's screwed because everyone's like me. And then I have a thing about blood too,

so I get... So I, you know, thank God there are people that can handle that, that can do that job because I can't. I'm a wolf. So what more do we need to know? I mean, what What made you, let's see, I had a question for you. Did you always dream of publishing a book?

Was that a dream of yours? Never. As I mentioned to you, Chris, you know, years ago. The only, actually the first time it even became a thought in my mind was one of my patients who actually was an ex-professional wrestler. I was telling him the story similar of how my family, how I got to be in front of him treating him. And when he heard my family's story, he actually said, that's actually kind of a pretty amazing story. So you should kind of consider self-publishing. And it was maybe 15 years ago,

I think I met this gentleman and his wife. They were both patients of mine. And they wrote a book, I guess, about his professional career. But anyway, they just mentioned it to me. And it kind of planted that seed of, I guess, I never thought my life was really interesting enough to even consider that. But I guess after talking to him, I'm like, just to maybe, especially after my mom passed away. I felt like it was a way where I could honor my parents. I can never get back to them the way I wish I had a chance to. I was just too young and stupid, I guess, you know, and obviously, like you said, pay homage to our country. And then my son was like the, I guess, the match that lit the thing where, you know, and it's funny. Actually, I'll tell you one quick little story.

So I'll book, honestly, it's probably more, it was supposed to be a children's book, but it's more like one of those, what is it, Pixar movies. I guess it's, it's kind of had to, more of that theme because I was always very inspired, especially the movie up. I felt like it was like, it was very uplifting and I felt sad and uplifting at the same time, because I think it's always the dichotomy

of life that makes life keeps you on your toes, kind of, you know, it's interesting, the ups and downs, you know, you've never been high. I've had one or two. I've had one or two. Right? I mean, just 1002, one or two.

Yeah, exactly. You know, and unfortunately, hopefully, more ups and downs. And I'll book I'm hoping is an inspiration for people that don't, maybe just to have a little bit of an appreciation for their own lives, because I know obviously we're lucky, but my parents weren't so lucky, and they were able to dust themselves off and lift themselves up off their bootstraps, is a lack of a better term, and make, rebuild their life because they actually had a really comfortable life in Vietnam, meaning my maternal grandmother had immigrated from China to Vietnam

to build a life for his family, became successful, and unfortunately that was the wrong recipe back then. So everything was taken away. So he was imprisoned, along with some of my aunts and uncles and my dad went for my mom because, you know,

she was taking care of me and my brother at home. So it was a whole, it was a whole thing, you know? So once, you know, getting back to what you said about the appreciation of our country,

I think, I agree, totally agree with you, that sometimes we just don't, as Americans, have that appreciation. when they've never experienced, you know, where other people come from, you know, I guess. Yeah.

There's still a reason why where people want to escape to, I guess. So. Yeah. And we, as a country, we have the best conversion rate for immigrants to kind of the American way. I mean, they still bring their traditions and their great food. I love the food. Yes. For it is.

One of my favorite things in California is, you know, there's all these, like, little barrios of, like, here's the Vietnam. folks and the Vietnamese folks, and here's this over here, India is over here. You go to little places in California, and you can just get some of the best foods. And I've met some of the most wonderful immigrants in California that they still don't speak of English. They'll come out and they'll be super sweet and nice to you. Thank you for coming into their shop. They're in California.

But they, you know, you really can't communicate. But you know what you're getting. know you're getting like authentic recipes. Sure. You're not getting McDonald's. You're getting authentic Thailand, authentic Vietnamese food, authentic this,

and I love that because, you know, there's so much, you know, a lot of Chinese food is bastardized here into a kind of Americanism. Like, you know,

a couple of my friends, I had some Chinese investors one time. I only, Chris, it's not really, you know, we don't do that over there. It's kind of like the Outback Steakhouse.

in America. Like, you say that to an Australia and they're like, what the hell? Right. But yeah, I mean, it's such a diversity and that's what makes America great. That's what it's great about America, my friend. Yeah.

Or at least it used to be when we had to America. I don't know. It's 2026 and it's getting weird people. So, I don't know. Hopefully we can continue this 250-year experiment. So as we go out, give people your final pitch. I don't know if you want to plug your dentistry. website or services at all?

So I work for a company Dental 365. They're expanding rapidly in Northeast. As far as I know, they've expanded as far as Ohio, you know, over the last year or two. But yeah, mainly in the Northeast. But like I said, it's actually interesting because it's not your typical. I was a little skeptical initially when they took over right before the pandemic. They somehow, anyway, they bought out Gentle Dental. And this was back in January of 2020.

And, you know, I was a little skeptical because I went from a small group practice. And I wasn't one of the owners. I was just a general dentist working there. But I loved my bosses. They were, you know, their friends. They're friends and mentors of mine. So they gave me an opportunity after my active duty service. So I really appreciated them guiding me in my career.

But then when this bigger company took over, you know, it's kind of like you're a little worried because you don't want, obviously, the quality of care. but also, you know, you don't want it to feel like a corporation because, you know, obviously with healthcare, it could go in that direction very quickly. And a lot of times, you know, the patients don't feel, get that same feeling, you know, the warm fuzzies, I guess. You know, they already hate dentistry and now you throw on top of it. It's just like, you know, literally that clinic-y feel. But anyway, since they took over, I got to say, I've been six years in, I'm pleasantly surprised that they generally care about the well-being of the patients. Yeah, it's a, but, you know, slightly bigger, you know, thing where the billing and all that stuff is done behind the scenes.

But, but I get to do what I still did with gentle dental, treat my patients right, show that, you know, obviously we're there to care for their, you know, their health, oral health and systemic health. And yeah, so I've been very happy. And, yeah, Dr. Aznes is the one that, you know, the main creator of Dental 365. And he's been very great to me. And anyway, yeah. Anyway, yeah, so I'm thankful. Can I ask you some because I just got some new toothpaste from trying. Is there a toothpaste that you think is really good or the best out there on the marketplace?

Well, you know, it's funny because I use Colgate myself, even the whitening. I don't necessarily, I mean, it's always nothing super spectacular. I feel like I still would go with the Florida toothpaste, even though people have some reservations nowadays. It seems like there's always something that people get concerned about through the years. So for me, I mean, somehow it's kept my smile okay. So I'm going to stick with what seems to work for me. Although sometimes I use sentinine toothpaste, which some patients might have a little bit of sensitivity, extra sensitivity. It kind of depends on a situation, like root sensitivity.

It works very well for that. But yeah, I mean, I've used crests before. I don't find anything wrong with that. It's just almost like a personal preference. But Colgate and Crest, I feel like they've done well for me through the years. So I still have my teeth. So you're one of the four out of the five Dennis to recommend. Yes.

I'm one of the four. You're one of the four. I'm not the outlier. I always like to meet, you know, I've heard that all my life since I was a child. So-and-so toothpaste, four out of five, Dennis recommend. They used to do the same thing with camel lights, too, by the way. Four to five doctors recommend camel lights. I grew up in the 70s.

And I was born in 68. So, yeah, smoking was light. That was like, crazy. Right, right. It's a wonder I don't, I don't know what, I don't, I have a joke for it. Anyway, yeah, it was, it's, it's kind of interesting. So what's funny is I usually use Colgate Complete. Are we getting paid for this plug?

Somebody called Colgate and Sensadine. And I just bought Sensadine because I just wanted to see how it was. So it's funny, you just, you just, all right, well, good. My teeth will be fine. I just got Dr. Recommended. I think you should be good. and I help with some sensitivity of you. Yeah, I mean, I'm okay with sensitivity.

I'm just trying to, you know, make up for all the Mountain Dew drink and I did. And the mess smoking and crack. No, I'm just kidding. Don't never did crack, but drank enough Mountain Dew to basically turn into crack, I think. Anyway, thank you very much for coming to the show, Doc. We really appreciate it. And thank you for paying homage to, you know, your story, your journey. And that's what's so great about all the stories we have.

the Chris Vos show. Thank you. Chris, thank you for listening. I mean, I appreciate, hopefully the friendly forest could help some people. I think it's actually just a quick little touch. I'm sorry, I think you had mentioned that. So just the reason I feel like it could be a little inspirational for people is so not to give everything away, but so I'm lost in the foresters because going through my life, as lucky as I feel I've been, I feel like sometimes you always feel like the grass is always greener on the other side. And like you said, it's my going through my own journey. Sometimes you've realized that maybe appreciate some of the things you have already in your life versus always chasing the next thing. Because sometimes, unfortunately in America, what people don't realize is, you know, just looking at your neighbor, coveting your neighbor's stuff.

I mean, it's just stuff, right? I mean, value the people in your life. And, you know, I think I saw a commercial that was very meaningful. They said, so obviously, like I said, my character's named Richly, and that's actually my name. So I'm the rabbit, but they said being rich in life is knowing what true value is, I guess, you know, what you value. You know, you could be the, unfortunately, monetarily, the most, the poorest person, but still feel enriched, right? If you're blessed with the people around you, ultimately that's what, you're not going to take it with us.

So hopefully just, it's never as bad, hopefully as it seems. And I know there are people going through some really horrible things, but, you know, hopefully there'll be a bright. today. And that's what an appreciation for what you have, I think, is kind of the gist of the story. And I hope it could help. Ben and I hope we could help get people through some tough time. So yeah. Thank you. Thank you. And thank for sharing that and trying to lift the world. That's what we try and do with the Chris Vosho. We try and lift the world. Thank you, Chris. I could tell that. That's awesome. Yeah. It's really important to us. Because, you know, there's enough crap in the world that wants to take you down dark,

rather holes of dementia, fantasy, or in reality or whatever sort of talking. things out there. But thank you for doing that, sharing that journey. You know, we all have, we all have a, as we always say in the Chris Vos show, we're all stewardships of this democracy, each of us, and caretakers of it. It's our job to take care of it. And we're also caretakers of this world to try and lift each other up and humans being, all that sort of good stuff. Give us your dot-coms one last time as we go out too. I should ask for that. Oh, so once again, I don't have it yet, but I'll definitely get it to you when it's done. Actually, Chris, before you leave, can I just give, like I said, I kind of mentioned the U.S. Army,

but part of the reason I'm in front of you now and having this great career is because I went through an U.S. Army scholarship program. It's called the Health Profession Scholarship Program. So being in the military does not always mean you're out there hurting people. I've been, I think my heart is always to help people. So there's so many opportunities of support for our troops, you know, on support roles, you know. I mean, I'm just a general dentist. I'm a dental officer, as I mentioned, in the military, and it's given me an amazing career.

Four years of active service, and once again, it allowed me to be a dentist, and once again, I'm in front of you now because of it. So I actually go to a local junior high school once a year to talk for a career day, and I promote both. And I know the military is not for everyone, because obviously it's sacrifice, being away from family and all that, and I've been through that. I've been very fortunate, partially because of the U.S. Army, whether it's active duty or in the reserves. I felt like I was very well taken care of. And yeah, anyway, it's a very proud aspect of my

life. And I hope, you know, I know a lot of other people as well. And I've been very fortunate because of, so I wanted to say that as a last thing. Thank you for sharing. I mean, these are the beautiful part of the stories. We call stories on the Chris Faw show, the owner's man to life. And that's how we share stories. I mean, movies, TV, books, just talking, telling stories. I mean, this is a, this is a thing that, how we learn, how we grow, how we educate each other. you know there's a lot of people that go through tremendous hard times and when they can hear when i hear people that went through you know like the journey you went through to come to america and stuff and i'm sure your parents really felt distress in that experience of you know getting out

of the horrors of pulp pots uh i forget what they call it down there but it's just a craziness that went on if you've ever watched the movie the killing fields and uh you know getting away from that surviving you know it's life is a big survival game really when it comes comes down to it. That's really it. It's like a survival island. You don't want to get voted off by the Grim Reaper. And so, you know, have an appreciation for what you've talked about and being humble and have gratitude and paying it back is such a wonderful character for people to have. So anyway, thank you for sharing your story. Thank you again, Chris, for having me. Thank you. Pick up this book. And then we get a dot com for your dentistry website. Do you want

to give one for that? You know what? Honestly, I think it's just, I don't know, I'm not sure if it was Go Dental 365 or something like that. It's funny, I'm horrible because I never hardly even go on my own website. But anyway, I'm just, you know, that can. Let's see. I have to on our website because it's the people trying to hack the crap out of it. We get assaulted like from all the nations. Yeah, they, they spend all day on trying to take down the Chris Vos show.

Oh, I'm sorry. No, it's pretty, I mean, it's, it's not just me. It's, they're, they're hitting. Yeah, the cyber stuff is crazy. That cyber attacks are crazy. I mean, I get a daily report of all the attacks that people try and break the site and stuff. And so I think we pissed off the Chinese once. We had a guy who does, like, ancient Chinese dance.

And I think a little bit of opera and, like, ballet-ish stuff, but it's like Chinese art. So I'm not sure of giving it the right name. But, you know, it's just beautiful, if you ever see the Chinese, you know, beautiful banners and the colors, It's that, but it's old-style pre-communist art that's come from their heritage. And they're here in America, they're banned in China, because I guess there's something seditious about the old prior child. And so they constantly attack anybody who's had these people on the show. Oh, my goodness. That's crazy. Something you wouldn't even think about. Yeah, but Russia loves to attack. I mean, we're, you name an Eastern Bloc country, and we're on their list.

Sure, sure. But, you know, thank God for defense. but thank God for people like you who celebrate what we do and how we do it. Well, thank God for people like you as well, Chris. I appreciate it. We got us to be a vehicle in the world. We got to be the good people. Anyway, thank you very much, Rick. And thanks for us for tuning in.

Go to goodreads.com, fortunes, Chris Foss, LinkedIn.com, Forteous Chris Foss, book of his book, wherever fine books are sold, The Friend Lee Forrest. Thank you, Chris. An American Adventure in Adverbs and Adjectives out April 7, 2024. Be good to each other. Stay safe. We'll see you next time. You listen to the most amazing and intelligent bond to improve your brain in your life. Or, tell me too much of the Chris Lancho podcast.

It'll lead to people thinking you're smarter, younger, irresistible, consume and regularly moderate amounts. She's the first thing for you league. All right, Rick, that's...