Martin L Strong: Saying you're day thirty-seven of vacation? What is that? Well, yeah, our o our new office is set to open September 1st. And so ⁓ I took kind of July and August off from a prison gig, actually. I was in jail for the last seven months. And ⁓ but I took July and August off to start setting up for ⁓ this new center that we're opening. ⁓ So the pr the prison, was that, you know, by court order or I the only type of dentistry I have not done in my career or had not done was prison dentistry until now. But yeah, I l I left the ⁓ last organization I was working for about Christmas time and needed to do something for six or seven months until we got this this new center up and going so ⁓ they they're in desperate need of dentists at our state prison system. So I worked at the state women's penitentiary for the last six months. Every day was a new story. ⁓ man. I honest to God, we we have an inmate that runs our prison library. We got her from Florida on some sort of prisoner exchange, and she's ⁓ serving a life sentence for murdering her husband in two thousand one, who was a dentist, for two point one million dollars of life insurance money. There's a really interesting YouTube documentary on it. So she's a really nice lady in her seventies now. You'd never guess her to be capable of that, but she did evidently. I'll bet you my wife has probably already seen this said documentary. If it involved a murder and a woman and a dentist, my wife's already she's probably taken never let your wife know you've got life insurance. That's like rule number one. I wanna know if my wife watches these shows to ⁓ like take notes and like stand in trouble or what is ⁓ what is her main motive behind that? This lady came in with a s with a sore front tooth and ⁓ we took an x-ray on her and you know, kind of explained to her how she, you know, had some issues going on on some crowns and some postcores on seven and ten that one of them was obsessed and failed and but she w wanted to leave it in and she said, You know, my husband and I ran a dental practice in Florida for years. It and I I'd watched her documentary a few weeks before and I I've wanted so badly to say, ⁓ yeah, whatever happened there. What what happened to your ex husband? You already knew she didn't know that you already knew? She I don't think she knew that I knew that she offed him, but yeah. Yep. ⁓ that's just one of the every day there's something like that. It's unbelievable. So I can cross that off my list. I'm actually gonna try to stay on and still do about a day a month. at the ⁓ the the prison because the opportunity for ministry and the stories and it's it's kind of a fun, refreshing day to go in there. So I'm gonna keep I I I kept one foot in that door. I'm gonna keep helping out there as much as I can. Hold on to that thought, okay, 'cause your dentistry is I think we're gonna call it out I I better introduce you 'cause it's been a little of Welcome back to the All In, All On X podcast, where we take you behind the scenes of full arch dentistry, innovation. And the people who are redefining what's possible. Here we go beyond the procedures and into the lives of people shaping full arch dentistry. This isn't just about implants or workflows. It's about the lives we build, the decisions we make under pressure, and the leaders who push this profession forward when no one's watching. Get your head straight, because we're about to go all in. The all-in all in X pod is brought to you by JB Dental Labs, the elite lab, trusted by full arch surgeons. Prosadonis and digital forward practices internationally. JB specializes in precision full arch restorations, zirconia, PMMA, photogrammetry workflows, and fast turnaround times that don't sacrifice quality. JB delivers a truly digital workflow powered by their proprietary online portal for easy case uploads, real-time tracking, and fast streamlined communication. If you're looking for a lab that understands immediate load, Passive fit and the demands of modern all on X dentistry. Learn more at JBdental Lab.com. Tell them that the all in, all on X pod sent you. So, you know, ⁓ a little ADD in your career. Dental ADD? Is it should fair fair to say? Totally. Totally fair. All right. Listen, let me just give you an introduction. We're gonna hold that thought about staying in prison dentistry for just a second. All right. Because if you haven't already figured it out. ⁓ I know this guy a little more than I know a lot of a lot of guests that have been on the podcast. ⁓ today's guest, more than a colleague, friend of mine for probably going on twenty-five or gosh, thirty years. ⁓ when I reported to Portsmouth Naval Hospital, Troy Kaiz was my assigned sponsor at Portsmouth Naval Hospital to get me moved down to Virginia. I ended up buying a house just a few blocks from Troy. My oldest son, his oldest daughter grew up together for six or ten years before he moved back to Sioux Falls. ⁓ we had sh we were on ships side by side at at Little Creek Amphibious Base. You on the Gunstan Hall. I was on USS Tortuga. Wait. ⁓ you were Tortuga. Gunston Hall forty six. ⁓ that's right. Gunston Hall was John. You were Tortuga. ⁓ okay. I was forty eight USS Ashland. And you had a racket fired over the bow of your ship, I remember, right? Weren't you up the coast of Jordan or something? ⁓ you know, ⁓ the details are classified, my friend. ⁓ The details are classified. We're gonna get into that story as well. Yeah, save that one. Save prison dentistry and the pier at Jordan for later. Okay. ⁓ but man, you've been an entrepreneur, multi disciplinary you're opening a multidisciplinary practice now, entrepreneur Sioux Falls, you bought, sold Brought in a partner, sold that. You've worked for other people. ⁓ we could talk about the ⁓ though those experiences well. And you've really reinvented yourself more than once, not just in dentistry. There's a lot to go go on here. ⁓ anyway, my good friend Troy Kaiz, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me on. I'm excited I'm excited to do this. This is gonna be about a I think we're gonna talk about a lot more than just ⁓ dentistry. And I hope so, because I listened to your last Podcast with ⁓ Dr. Brumond and like wow, I gotta follow up a guy like that. And that guy's like the grand master ninja of implant dentistry. I'll I'll take the premolars and ⁓ the molars and ⁓ use a guide if I can. But ⁓ yeah, you've got you have some really amazing clinicians and practitioners on here, so I'm honored and humbled to just be able to sit here with you. Well, it's not all about implants. My friend, and I think that's why I've got you on here. And 'cause you're not just on here 'cause you're my friend, but you know, you might be the ⁓ master of family, life, and faith. Right? So you know, you are the oral progress anyways. I don't claim to be a master of any, but a work in progress for sure. I know your life is most everything in twenty five years of dentistry from addiction to burnout ⁓ like you said, reinventing myself a few different times. ⁓ and ⁓ we're gonna try it once more here with this new center we're building. Yeah. I know it th so addiction, faith, family, and ⁓ re rebirth, rebuilding yourself and rebirth. So let's start out right there and then we'll go back to prison dentistry. What are you about to do right now? Tell tell us about your multidisciplinary practice. Well, the the last place I was working, I I sold out of my private practice completely about five years ago. ⁓ like you'd said I I bought it. practice in a small town in rural South Dakota in two thousand ten. ⁓ and it was really a literally a diamond in the rough. I got this practice for a song ⁓ and built it up and then sold half of it and then built it up and sold the other half. ⁓ and ⁓ we ended up moving out of that town just because I had a couple of daughters that were struggling emotionally and mentally ⁓ with a lot of different things. And I I'm gonna be an open book here too. So ⁓ please do. And And the reason I say I'm going to be an open book is because I I don't know a lot, but I know that most of your listeners, if they're honest, they have all or will all experience extremely similar things throughout their career. And if my story can help any of them, it's worth telling. So ⁓ sold the second of half of my practice. ⁓ that was in about five years ago. And then I've just been working for a guy that owns several practices and sedation dental centers and ⁓ also teaching at the Ingle. implant institute out in Charlotte, North Carolina. ⁓ so I was going out there a couple of weekends a month, mentoring dentists on everything from ⁓ single implants to full arch implants to extractions and grafting. ⁓ I'm actually going back there for the first time in about two years ⁓ to help out in an extraction and grafting course in a few weeks. So excited to get back out there with Todd Engel. But ⁓ so yeah the last five years I've just been working for a a a guy's organization and then ⁓ the sedation center that I was working at with my oral surgeon friend and partner and another general dentist and our anesitist decided to kind of part ways and ⁓ start our own center. So across town, we're building a a ⁓ new building, new construction right next to two periodonis. ⁓ they partnered with us on the building as well. And ⁓ the like the construction's about ninety-five percent complete. Equipment's getting moved in right now. But we'll have ⁓ oral surgery, myself, one other general dentist. one anesthetist and two periodonists ⁓ working with us in this practice. That sounds great. I mean you've got all the tools for success. ⁓ and we've got an endodontist going up across the parking lot. ⁓ and then I I should also say kind of the premise behind this is ⁓ you know, we do accept and receive referrals from area dentists and specialists. ⁓ but we're we're kind of doing dentistry a little bit different at this stage of our career. And instead of referring your patient to us, You know what? You're our buddy, you're a colleague, bring your patient over and let's all work on them together. So we have several friends that come over and bring their patients with them. They'll schedule off a block a time. Our nesophist sedate ⁓ and ⁓ they'll go to sleep one time and they might have three specialists, one general dentist and a hygienist working on them all while they're undergoing one nap. So it's kind of a cool concept. That's awesome. Right there. This is you, Covenant Dental. I love it. Tell me about the name. Yeah, yeah. ⁓ my oral surgeon friend, ⁓ Andy Hilly is his ⁓ is his name. ⁓ he's probably a guy you'd like to have on this podcast at some point in time too. ⁓ I think ⁓ he'd be very open and honest about ⁓ his past and ⁓ how he's gotten to where he's at. He's actually got his master's in divinity now. ⁓ he preaches two or three weekends a month, all non for profit at different area churches. And ⁓ we we came up with the name the cornerstone initially. ⁓ that meant a lot to him. To have his oral surgery center called that. ⁓ then we we decided to have two different names, two business entities under the same roof. ⁓ Dr. Carly Odens is my general dentist partner that you see there. ⁓ I think she was the one that came up with the covenant. ⁓ we you know, we wanted to stick ⁓ to to faith based names because that's integral in what we're trying to do ⁓ for these last ten years of our career. And ⁓ so she came up with Covenant Dental. I wanted anchor dental. ⁓ And also, you know, based off of a verse in Hebrews. But ⁓ she thought that was a little bit too much navy. I wanted all of our operatories dent ⁓ you know, decorated with anchors and crosses and ⁓ she said, How about covenant? That way it applies a little more to me as well. So ⁓ we've talked it over, she decided and we're going with Covenant Dental. I love it. Yeah. There's a lot there's a lot in a name though. The real you know, just going down that road, I mean, it's kinda gonna be what defines you and what attracts you, right? So there's nothing That that's it's ⁓ perfect. I love it. Our our whole mission, our whole goal at this point in our careers is completely different than it was when we started out twenty five years ago. Yeah, how so? Well, y yeah I'll be the first to admit when I started this career, this field of dentistry, I wanted money and stuff and lots of both. And you know I I tell young people, be careful what you wish for and what you want and what you set your mind to because if you want something bad enough, good or bad, you'll probably get it. ⁓ I I I did reach most of those goals. I had yeah I always said I I will be completely content, completely happy if I have a nice surf boat, a lake cabin and an acreage. And ⁓ about fifteen years into my career I had all three of those things. But I had two daughters that were struggling with being bullied and mental health and anorexia and realized that I had everything monetarily that I'd set out for and that I set my mind to, but there was something still lacking. And ⁓ that's about the time in my career when I I I burned out as well. My wife and kids were living ⁓ in the town that I grew up in where our lake cabin was. I was living in my dream house in the town where my practice was, but my wife and kids were an hour away. I had to have the realization as far as okay, what am I gonna do? Am I gonna get a new job and a new house or a a new family? And ⁓ I wish I could say it was a quick, easy decision and I feel bad saying that I even struggled with that for three to six months or Maybe a little longer, but I did. Thankfully I chose, all right, let's get a new job and a new house. But yeah, I walked away from essentially a gold mine and the the house that I always had wanted and dreamed of and ⁓ kind of ha was forced to reinvent myself. Probably I can say though my kids are all alive and well and ⁓ it it's been a struggle for me having to try to climb back on a couple of different times and figure out exactly what it is I'm supposed to be doing, but I think we're about six weeks away from being there. Do you ⁓ do you do so that that didn't ha it's it sort of happened gradually, right? Six months, maybe twelve months, took a little while. Yeah. Right. Was there a fear or you know, what what was the what took so long? Changing your identity? Big time fear. You know, when I sold out of private practice, you know, my I've always faith has always been important to me. ⁓ when I had that practice and then in that town, ⁓ I was drinking too much as well and ⁓ nine and a half years ago I decided to quit drinking completely. ⁓ it for whatever reason, five of my best friends in life are all pastors. And ⁓ regardless of which one I would hear preach, the message that always came through to me was what's holding you back, Troy, from going all in with you know with your with your walk with the Lord. And I and I knew what it was for me. And I had a I had a lot of good friends, but ⁓ our our we were never together when we weren't throwing back some bush lights, you know, at a campground or something like that. And ⁓ I was on several boards. I was, you know, very success successful from earthly standards. You know, if you looked at a snapshot of my life, boy Troy really had it all together. And ⁓ you know, the guy's killing it. And ⁓ however, there was still something that was lacking. And ⁓ I remember it was St. Patrick's Day. I I had ⁓ ran a five K race at I think it started at nine o'clock in the morning and My my friends and I went down and had bloody Marys before the race. And then I ran a five K with a few bloody Marys in me. We proceeded to stay downtown, drank way too much, and I got ⁓ sent home in the local town taxi at about nine o'clock at night because it wasn't doing so hot after a full day of that. And ⁓ my daughters had had friends over at the time and my wife was home with our daughters and their friends and ⁓ my oldest daughter, that she was probably in middle school or so at the time. Said, why no, the y the middle daughter said, Why's dad acting funny? And my oldest daughter said, ⁓ he's drunk. And they didn't think anything of it. And the fact that they didn't think anything of it was probably the hardest part for me. And it it was a talk about a shot to the gut. And I looked at my wife, you know my wife, Stephanie. I don't know what the equivalent to saints are for females, but she is one. She should have left me many times, but she didn't. ⁓ she didn't yell at me, she didn't scream at me, she didn't even say anything. Got she just kinda shook her head in disappointment. And ⁓ that's all it took. Yeah, that was on a Saturday. ⁓ Sunday I had quite an impressive bourbon collection. ⁓ I was way into bourbons and microbrews. I loaded all of that stuff up on a Sunday morning and ⁓ distributed amongst my four or five drinking buddies and I don't know how many dollars of bourbon I gave away that Sunday morning, but it was probably quite a bit. ⁓ my wife and I both then got ⁓ re baptized and ⁓ kinda just changed the way we were gonna do our marriage and do life and ⁓ and and and move forward. So that was that was just over nine and a half years ago. Yeah, tremendo thanks for sharing that, buddy. I w you've shared that with me, but sharing that with the masses, I there's lot of people who probably go through ⁓ g right now, right maybe a majority of dentists even. ⁓ do you think that we as dentists, especially young dentists, have to sacrifice our families for our careers and our own personal wants on this on this earth? I mean is that is it a always a trade off for the majority of people? No, I I I don't know if it's just dentistry. I don't think it is. I think it's a lot of professions too, but balance is the big thing. Trying to maintain and ⁓ achieve balance. I and I I know from so many different dental friends of mine that they struggle with that. ⁓ we we're an interesting and kind of a weird and strange profession of perfectionists and we run hot and Most of us I don't think probably go into anything. Everything we do, we do a thousand miles an hour and ⁓ try to do it well. Sometimes those aren't ⁓ for good causes. So trying to to maintain balance with that, I I know that's always been a struggle for me and several of my colleagues. Yeah. It's kind of an entrepreneurial mindset, you know, that work hard, play hard mentality. And if you earn if you earn, earn, earn, you deserve deserve deserve more of, right? For sure. We do see it across more disciplines than just dentistry. So you know, unfortunately. It's been a long time. I think I have. I credit that book to one of my biggest changes too. It was about that time where I I quit drinking. I read that book. ⁓ I actually did a nine month pastoral residency too, thinking maybe I'm supposed to just not even be in dentistry and I'm supposed to be in ministry. But in that book that guy talks about ⁓ I think he's a young cable executive that ⁓ achieved a ton of success financially and then had that mindset, that shift where he wanted to stop working for success and start working for significance. And that really resonated with me. It I I said, you know what, I'm I that's it. I'm turning things over. I'm gonna do things differently and I'm not gonna work for money and stuff anymore. Now it's about significance. And ⁓ a lot of really cool things have happened since since since that point in my life. Not all easy things, but a lot of really cool things, which I'm sure we'll get into as well. Yeah. No, let I mean let's get let's get into it. I mean, so sobriety and and you know, truly w trying to walk beside the Lord has ⁓ has had a tremendous I mean that's been the major shift of your life. I mean, would would this have ever been possible without sobriety? ⁓ it it it worked the first few years. I mean my wife and I helped start a church in Sioux Falls when we were we're living there outside of the Navy. ⁓ probably I can say that church is one of the fastest growing churches in in the country. ⁓ it's called Embrace Church. ⁓ my friend Adam Weber, he's one of my you know five pastor friends that I talked about. ⁓ he's got an extremely thriving church and podcast and the the it's my wife and I are still plugged into that church. ⁓ when we moved to the town where my private practice was about an hour away. ⁓ we didn't have a church like that in my town, so my wife and I started an embraced church for that town. So there's Embrace Church Madison. That church is still ex doing extremely well too. ⁓ so I I I'd love I I'm sad to say that I think I was probably faking it. So here we had started two churches and and even though I was living, you know, behind the scenes a life that would not have been favorable to the eyes of the Lord, which was Sad to say. ⁓ however it's a s it's my story. And so ⁓ I think I I can say you know it doesn't have to be a an overnight switch change type thing. I think a lot of us would say we're work in progress. I mean everybody that has a really, you know, crazy cool overnight story, ⁓ that's not really me. Mine's been a little bit more gradual, other than that that drinking event where I finally just quit completely. But ⁓ it's it's definitely a lot better and I can feel a lot less guilty talking to people about my faith. Now that that I'm more fully in and not living that second lifestyle behind the scenes. Yeah, it's tough to, you know, live both sides of the coin, right? You can't I tried for many years, yeah. And it it it it's torment it torments ya. Yeah. Yeah. It's the it's the flirting or the dabbling in the sin, right? You're just like you're it's okay to like dip your toes in if you still if you're starting a church, right? Yeah. Yeah, and then once you get that over with on Sunday, you're like, Okay, good, I've got that box checked. Now let's get I okay, got that over with, let's roll. Let's start the week, let's make a bunch of money, let's have fun on Friday and Saturday, but then put our church hat back on for Sunday. Which is all fine and it doesn't work very well for very long. Which is all fine and good if you meet the Lord at ⁓ thirteen hundred hours on Sunday afternoon. ⁓ Right? Yeah. That was one PM for you civilian types. That's why I added the afternoon. ⁓ Yeah. You know, may we all go to heaven right ⁓ on the in the parking lot on the way out of church. ⁓ that that's just it. And I've got a lot of friends that say that. Well, you know what? I'll I'll I I'm gonna have a gradual death on a hospital bed and then that'll be my time to get right with the Lord and I'll repent, you know, then. But in the meantime I'm gonna have as much fun and live as crazy of a life as I can. Like what you know, what if you're driving home and a c you know if then a bus hits you or something and you don't have a few days in a hospital to get get right with the Lord. So we gotta be ready to ready to roll, ready to go at any point in time, is is the way I look at it. Yeah, you know. Because this life, as you know, we're we're getting to that age now where we have friends that just dying. You know, it seems more and more all the time. And so I I realized that a few years ago, our mortality. But I like to think we're still young at fifty ish, right? But yeah, I've had several friends, even dental friends, that just the next day they're they're gone, be it a heart attack or a stroke or whatever. It's kind of scary to think about. No, you're right. I mean, we're both in our fifties, I you know, and ⁓ I wait, you are, right? Yeah, just turned fifty a few weeks ago. Yeah, yeah, fifty and I'm fifty. And ⁓ yeah, I mean I've seen a quite a few pass away right right now to fifty six, fifty seven, and they're healthy like we are, right? They look they don't look morbidly obese or anything. So you just never know. Right? Yeah. God willing we've got twenty, thirty, forty good years left ahead of us yet, but we're not guaranteed that by any stretch. ⁓ you know, living on borrowed time mys myself. I think this is Yeah, I just keep getting put back on this earth. We had a lot of fun for a lot of years too. Looking back at that picture I sent you this morning. ⁓ made me made me chuckle. We've been through a lot of lot of fun things together. And a lot of other things too. I look at that picture and I saw I saw the alcohol in our eyes. You know, I s you sa you just saw it. You just look weathered and you're only thirty years old or twenty five years old and you look weathered. ⁓ I showed that to Stephanie and I said I cropped that purposely because well, look you you probably don't have anybody under eighteen listening to this podcast, but we were in our underwear in a hotel hot tub, I think it was at two o'clock in the morning in Antigua. Uh-huh. And I remember we had ⁓ you know, ⁓ fully stocked rooms or whatever, it was an all-inclusive place and we grabbed bottles of champagne and popped them and held our thumbs over them and shook them. We're spraying champagne around. I'm like, all right, we're not paying for this. And the only time in my life I've ever felt free enough to be able to afford to shake up a bottle of champagne. And then we got that picture together and then reenacted it just a few years ago when I swore back into the Navy. So that's that's an important picture because ⁓ it it it says a lot about our friendship and our relationship. I think I I picture eighteen years apart. I have it in my email. We haven't aged a bit. Look at that. ⁓ my god, I look terrible. And yeah, I used to think I was fit back then. ⁓ This looks like ⁓ Goose and Maverick, I think you know, doesn't it? You know? I think we look like two aviators here. ⁓ for sure. Yeah. ⁓ that was I I didn't know that was in Antigua. That's crazy. Yeah. I have it up there 'cause I emailed it to myself. Man, we thought we were shit hot, didn't we? ⁓ yep. I wish I could put a picture from me today. I've actually got some abs I've been working out hard the last six months. Wait till you see. I I ⁓ I I've just l recently lost twenty five pounds and signed up for another half marathon on a dare for my dental assistant and so it sadly I'd kind of let myself go a little bit the last few years. But then having gone back into the Navy reserves and for the first time I had to get measured because I was a few pounds over the weight standard. I could weigh two hundred three pounds and I weighed two ⁓ seven. And ⁓ and I had to not eat for a day and a half to weigh that. So I was up to about two hundred eighteen and I just weighed the other day and weighed about a hundred ninety one, I think it was. So I'm feeling good. And ⁓ then my when my assistant said, Hey, I'm running a half marathon. I haven't ran more than five miles in about three years and I've had two knee scopes in the last few years and so I'm getting back on that horse. I'm gonna do a a half marathon on September twentieth. I hope I don't die. ⁓ regular with ya. I took my boy, I took you know Hunter, my oldest and Max. We took him I took him to Hyrocks, New York a few months ago and I'm tracking that and following pictures ⁓ pictures and reels and and those guys are in shape. They're working out hard. I don't know if you told the listeners, but ⁓ Stephanie and I are actually ⁓ Hunter's godparents. Well, that goes away back. ⁓ I know. Yeah, well that's probably what got him on track. Proud to say. So Hunter went sober on January first. I'm so proud. ⁓ he was having some problems through high school and college and whatnot, ⁓ partying a little too much. I was yeah, you know, every night, you know, when your boys when they're eighteen or sixteen and they're out in the town and you're just you're you're scared to death you're gonna get a phone call that it's gonna be that phone call. And I mean we worried about Hunter while he was down in school and then on January first he went he went just complete sober. And I mean I was always like, What happened? What'd you do? You know? He said, Nothing, nothing, nothing. I said, What happened? Nothing, nothing. I just just got tired of it. And man Hunter, I don't know if I told ya, he's going to ⁓ Bible study at least twice a week. He's got a good group. He got baptized. Yeah and then he reconnects with him. Fitness thing and He asked if I'd pay for this Hyrux thing. I took him to New York and now, you know, I'm doing it. So I'm cutting wait. I'm I dropped two twenty five to one ninety one and now I'm be I'm getting slowly beefing back up with strength. So I'm up to two hundred again. But ⁓ I think if we could have gotten our lives together when we were that age as opposed to waiting until we were thirty five or so to do it. Yeah. Well it's ⁓ yeah, you're exactly right. Because ⁓ w I thought And maybe you did too, that I was operating at a high level and I was ⁓ I I was allowed to drink and party because I was operating at a high level. But in retrospect, I was probably only operating at a high level twenty percent of my day, twenty percent of my life. You know, 'cause you go home and you just start, you know, whatever. Start partying and you don't you don't really put anything into the gas tank for for tomorrow or anything. You're just always on fumes. Right. Right. Right. Yeah, that yeah, I got to the point where that's what I would look forward to. Like, ⁓ just a few hours left and I can go home and have a couple of beers or my drink of choice was bourbon mixed with squirt my whiskey sour. And so I would think that's terrible. Yeah. I can smell about that throughout the day and I'd look forward to that. And I thought, This is no way to live where this is what I'm looking forward to. I've got a beautiful wife and three beautiful daughters at home, and I'm looking forward to going home and and doing that other stuff. I can smell that in my nose right now and it smells terrible. ⁓ Yeah. So you didn't cringe even thinking about it. Did you ⁓ find that your your friends, your circle had to change right away when you decided to do this? It changed big time. I didn't think it would, and ⁓ I've it it hurt the fact that it did. my circle of friends did change. ⁓ I the the few that stuck around and ⁓ that I that still you know, didn't care whether I drank with them or not. That friendship has gotten closer and tighter and better. And the ⁓ friends and the quality of people that have came into my life since then, we're able to connect on a level that's so much deeper now than than the friends that I'd sit around and, you know, split a case with. ⁓ but yeah, you know, they're they're good guys and they're still good guys. ⁓ but yeah, definitely changed. It is kind of a little bit ironic though. ⁓ you know, we all drank too much and ⁓ you know, it babbled in excess too much. Over the years, the number of those friends of mine that have reached out saying, Hey, Troy, I n I need to do what you did. ⁓ you know, my my wife's leaving me, or hey, I just got a DUI and I got to tell my kids and I gotta quit drinking. How how did you do it? So about every year, I suppose, another one of those friends will come around and and ask for help getting through that. So I think that's part of the reason that God put me down that path is to be able to help Other friends that are struggling with the same things that I was struggling with. There's a verse or ⁓ a Bible verse or something and ⁓ and I'm just gonna paraphrase it 'cause I'm terrible at memorizing every word. But ⁓ you know, it says ⁓ you know or something about a a a guy goes into a dark he's coming out into he's in a dark spot in his life and and ⁓ he says, you know, Lord, why'd you why'd you take why'd you let me go down that path? Why'd you why did I why did that happen? And he said, so that you'll be able to show other people the way out. Right? So you can help you can help them find their own I I butchered that story, but I'm trying to remember where I read it or where No, it makes total sense though. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So you're there you're there now for other people. ⁓ exactly. Yeah, you've ⁓ so faith was always a big part of your life. I you know, ⁓ somehow it escaped me that you were so instrumental in starting those two churches. I knew you were involved back then, but I was living in Virginia, you were in South Dakota. Right. ⁓ Right. You and when I when we were in the Navy and I was on my ship, I was the Protestant lay leader. on my ship, you know, I'd give the evening prayer and so ⁓ yeah, like I said, it's always been an important part of my life, just not the most important part of my life. And so ⁓ making it the most important part of my life, important part of my life has been kind of the biggest switch for me. Yeah. But it doesn't work when you just lump it in with all the other good things in your life. You've got to make it first and foremost. And amazingly when you do make it first and foremost in the biggest priority of your life, how the other things seem to fall into place. So what's what's with you know, this faith, you know, 'cause there's a lot of people out there probably like, This is painful to listen to. They kinda wanna turn it off, you know, because they don't want to hear, you know, they don't ⁓ want to be. No, no, no, no, no. I wanna go down this path. ⁓ but you know, you know how it is when people, you know, they're like, ⁓ I just this is this is hard for me to hear. Why is it hard to hear? Because you know it's true and you don't wanna live that way, right? So nobody likes nobody likes to admit that maybe they're not doing things the way they should be, or to be called out on something, or to be corrected. I know I especially guys like us. No, I'm the one that you know I I'm the one that tells people, you know, what they should be doing and how they should be doing it. Don't you know, don't don't preach at me. I got this. Right. I'm successful. Don't tell me what I'm doing is wrong. I'm gonna turn to the next podcast where I can hear, you know, Vichy talk about how to do zygomatic implants, right? I don't need any I don't need a lesson in life. I'm living just fine. Yeah. You know? By the way, the podcast mission that was on this show, guys. No. Okay. I like where this this conversation is going. I like it very much. ⁓ you know, but on your turn to more faith, which I want to get into more, was it like you know, what was the big shift? I mean, was it it wasn't just sobriety. What else happened in your life? Or or was it just sobriety? Well You know, that's kind of what started it. But then the the people that came into my life after that, after I'd sold my practice and moved away. And ⁓ I've gotta give a lot of credit to two guys. ⁓ one of them was my pastor friend, his name's Luke Smith, and ⁓ his partner now his name's Noel Boucher. And ⁓ they have a they have a company, an organization out there called Canyon Pathways. ⁓ they found me in the ⁓ their or Luke I'd known. Luke works for for Noel now full time, but ⁓ this c this organization called Canyon Pathways was a a program that my my ⁓ last practice owner ⁓ implemented into our group. And ⁓ you kind of go through some different personality tests and some profile studies and those types of things. ⁓ but what what Noel do in fact I think I think I had Noel talk to you a couple of years ago. ⁓ so I think you've you had met Noel one time. ⁓ but it was ⁓ initially it started out as a weekly event where I talked mole an hour or two ⁓ just digging into and you know going deep getting into the hard things and understanding why I act the way I act or you know make the decisions I make based upon these personality profiles and results and it's all faith centered and faith based and ⁓ they they actually run a series of men's retreats. ⁓ it's a I think it's a three-day retreat where they intentionally and purposely bring 12 to 14 guys from different backgrounds together. And ⁓ it it's not overly churchy by any stretch. You know, they've got you eat steak dinners and you know, drink some wine at night if you want, but ⁓ intentional conversation and intentional ⁓ it's all about being intentional. ⁓ in fact I he's he's mentioned he'd love to get a dental one together and I would love to help orchestrate that with him where we get ten to twelve dentists maybe that are interested in exploring going deeper, you know, with guys like you and me. And ⁓ I know we could have Noel put one together. ⁓ Maybe in a other place in the Dominican Republic or something like that. We've got some townhouses down there where we just spend three days talking through some of these things with guys that maybe want to explore ⁓ how they've been living and maybe a different way or a better way of living or practicing. you guys our age all tend to hit to hit that point in their their midlife point where ⁓ they're gonna go one of two ways. ⁓ and are you gonna ⁓ come out of it with a stronger marriage or stronger faith, or are you gonna come out with a divorce or bankruptcy or you know there's a lot of ways a guy can turn when they hit forty five or fifty and ⁓ if I if I could choose for them I would I would hope and choose that they would all choose to go a positive direction. But man, since the beginning of time guys make bad choices, especially when they hit that midlife point. So ⁓ hit this organization that found me really helped me through that. So ⁓ I can't give enough credit to to my friends Noel and Luke. Yeah. Well that's awesome. And while you're on that, you know, if you're interested in a retreat like that, DM the the show here and let me know. We'll put some names in the show. We should let's put one together. Yeah. Yeah, you and I we can we could organize one of those with Noel and I know he'd love to do it. We could take ten more guys and I'll go someplace neat and kinda have three days of bonfires and rest and solitude and discussion. Well I feel like we're already doing our first one here in South Dakota. ⁓ you know, it's a little we're taking a pheasant hunt out there. What started out as Hey Troy, I want to take my boys on a good pheasant hunt. You know, you've got this Christian landowner. I've got all of a sudden I've I'm inviting dentists and they're all like, you know, five, six good Christian men, and you're like, ⁓ and by the way, I've got these partners, ⁓ the Covenant at Covenant Dentistry, and I feel like we've got this retreat. The first inaugural trip is already scheduled in December. I can't wait for it. Yeah. We we're gonna bring a lot of really fun guys together from, you know, kind of all with a dental background, but I can't wait to see the relationships that develop after getting those guys together in this in the coolest place. Coolest pheasant hunting place in South Dakota. It's gonna be awesome. Well, it's not gonna be the coolest place. It's gonna be literally the coldest place on earth, Troy. It's ⁓ December in South Dakota. It's still palatable at that point. Steer clear January and February though. December, that's gonna be nice. Yeah. Well it's ⁓ it's gonna be It's gonna be a great trip 'cause there's gonna be a lot of good good people there. In fact, when we do these trips we need to do ⁓ in places ⁓ just like pheasant hunting, I don't know, fishing trips and whatever, you know, duck hunting trips or something or just whatever, a ski resort, whatever. You know, do a hike hiking hiking in nature. Yeah. You know that like we used to like those trips like Antigua, you know, they were all inclusive and it you know, it was just a matter of sitting by the pool and drinking all day. I would much rather go to a a place like you said, hunting, fishing, ten to twelve guys. it in the and quality conversation. That's my kind of trip anymore at this stage of my life. Yeah. I'm gonna open this up not just guys, you know, good good women too. ⁓ people out people out there that need to need a difference in their life. Hey, if today's conversation is pushing you to think differently about full arts dentistry, that's exactly why we built the Atlantic Implant Institute. This isn't just a weekend course or a set of disconnected modules. The Core Continuum is a purpose-built curriculum. It's designed to develop full arch surgeons and prostodontists, not just expose you to a little content. From bootcamp fundamentals to advanced prosthetics and digital workflow to remote anchorage and FP1 philosophy as well, we teach you structure, judgment, predictability, didactic, hands-on, type it on, live patient cadavers. Plus We teach business thinking required to make it all work in real practice. There's nothing like it anywhere in the country because this was not built to be common. Learn more at the Atlantic Implant Institute dot com. ⁓ let's talk about your your outreach, buddy. I want to talk about y how long you've been doing mission trips in Guatemala and where else have you been? Yeah. ⁓ I was My first mission trips were in Jamaica with some friends of ours through the Christian Dental Society and ⁓ fell in love with it. There's there's nothing like doing dentistry for a population that can't pay you with anything but a thank you and a hug. ⁓ and it's so fun to practice that way. You're not worrying about collecting money up front or you know, talking about insurance plans with them or anything. You're there just truly for the sake of helping them. ⁓ so I went to Jamaica a few times. ⁓ went to some of our local Native American reservations. and my my wife ended up going on a trip to Guatemala because somebody from ⁓ our church had to back out last minute. And so my wife went and the story she came home with just kind of set my fire my heart on fire for Guatemala. And so we've ⁓ vested heavily in ⁓ Guatemala as of about six or seven years ago. We've been there seven or eight times. We've got a clinic going in Guatemala now. ⁓ in a s next to a a landfill just outside of a town called Esquintla, Esquintla. And ⁓ it it's hazy, it's smoky, it smells, it's the like the most awful place you'll ever see on earth. ⁓ but there's a the little oasis outside the landfill called the land of hope, ⁓ which was started by my friend Oscar Palencia. And ⁓ he he created a little haven of hope with a church and a feeding center and a birthing center and a nutrition center. ⁓ we've got a little dental clinic going there now. We've got a couple of dental chairs and ⁓ we get there at least once a year and we go down there and help help people ⁓ pretty much just getting out of infection at this point. ⁓ we go down with minimal equipment. Our suction is ⁓ that little girl. You know, people say, Well can't you can't you do some good, you know, right there locally and yes. By all means, do good locally too. But there's something about being intentional about going to a place like Guatemala next to a landfill and finding people that rely completely on the Lord. That little girl that you're showing, I I started recording her because she was praying for her lunch. And it was a tortilla and some beans, I think. And I I hit record on my camera after she'd been praying for about thirty seconds. And she's not being showy about it by any stretch, as you can see. ⁓ I the the recording I think is a minute and thirty seconds. She prayed for two minutes for a little plate of some beans and a tortilla. And I guarantee she meant every single second of that prayer, whatever that was, that she sang right there. And so if if you want to get your heart ripped out, come with us on one of our trips to Guatemala. ⁓ that we we that's ⁓ some places up in northern Guatemala where we hiked food ⁓ up into these little villages. in ⁓ northern Guatemala. Yes, I drank that. We started taking ciproflax on preemptively before we went up there, just so we wouldn't get sick. We we we told our ⁓ I've got my daughter with on that trip too, that's right. My brother and his daughter. And they were so gracious and insisted that we share food and eat with them and drink with them and said, you know what? All right, we're just gonna we're gonna take the Cipro before we go because they felt rude turning it down. ⁓ these are villages next to other villages where If you wander into them as a white English speaking Christian, they'll cut your head off. And so luckily we had a local guy with us that made sure we didn't go into any of those villages. But I've never been in such a remote part of the earth. Like you drive to where the road ends and then you walk several miles out into these ⁓ the forest and where then we've got friends down there that are starting churches now. But this is the land of hope. That's the church, that land of hope. ⁓ there's a picture of my friend Oscar there. He's coming here to the States in a couple of weeks and speaking at our church. ⁓ so we've we've got that mission going strong down there. ⁓ and the stories and the miracles we come back with. We we'll have to talk about ⁓ the the kid Eddie that you were a part of, Adam. That's Oscar right there. And ⁓ yeah. Amazing things happening down there. We're we're actually Innergirl, my church is now building a ⁓ learning center for teenage kids next to the church because we found that kids once they get through their few required years of school, ⁓ they they stop learning, they don't have a place to go to school. And so we're putting a learning center to try to help the teenage kids down there right now. I mean that's that's my I'm just blown away. You know, ⁓ you know, we hear stories, we know people, they go down to Guatemala and they talk about this mission work they do and meanwhile, you know, they're staying at a four or five star hotel and they're eating steak every night and they're some of the patients are paying for treatment and blah blah blah and they have to pay for follow up, but you're going down there, you're staying at a local villager's house and Living the and treating people that live in a landfill. And right. They these kids walk around barefoot in a flaming pile, mountain of trash, with nothing on their feet, eating and scavenging for what they can find in the landfill. And it's on fire all the time. It's just pockets of methane erupting sort of explosions. There's vultures flying around. ⁓ a few local people that have some hogs let ⁓ just kind of walk around the trash eating out of it. And ⁓ moms having babies out there. And so ⁓ my friend Oscar actually used to be a professional photographer and he did not know the Lord back in that day either. And he struggled with addiction and about took his own life. I I I let him tell the story sometime, but ⁓ he was out taking pictures with his professional photography company in the landfill, and ⁓ his heart changed completely. And so he dedicated everything in his being and his life to trying to help these people to the landfill. So that's when he created that church. and feeding center just a block away from the trash. Cool. Is it do you guys need ⁓ help? Is there is there a place where ⁓ listeners can go out and donate or what group do you yeah, I and put and put my email address or f or phone number on here too. Anybody that does wanna help. If you wanna come down there and ⁓ and and do dentistry with us or if you just wanna help financially, it we'll take all the help we can get. We don't have ⁓ suction down there yet. We've got two portable dental units. We usually have one or two hygienists doing some ⁓ profies and things like that with, but ⁓ usually we're using four by four gauze as suction and ⁓ put ⁓ we do have chairs that go up and down and so that that helps. But no, we're extremely primitive yet. ⁓ we got an air conditioner in there though recently, so that helps because it's about a hundred ten degrees and then smoke from that trash that ⁓ that's on fire burning your eyes. It's it's not a fun, easy place to work. So ⁓ if you're asthmatic or sensitive to that type of thing, maybe don't come on the trip and just contribute financially. But If if that ⁓ floats your boat and you wanna come with us sometime, we'll take all the help or all the bodies we can get down there. And ⁓ yeah, please DM your friend ⁓ Roberto Fuentes, he's been awesome with us down there. We I think we've got some cool things on the pipeline for that. Yeah, tell me well, let's get to Roberto. ⁓ you called me a couple of years ago about ⁓ Eddie and I guess the story goes ⁓ you were taking out teeth and you saw you were into something more. I mean how tell us about Eddie That's still that's still one of my favorite miracles from that from a trip we've had down there. ⁓ it was actually my friend Andy, my oral surgeon friend, ⁓ the partner, he's the the cornerstone oral surgery center, that that guy, Andy. He's in the chair next to me taking some teeth out on this ⁓ eleven or twelve year old boy at the time. ⁓ he came in with his mom. They they walk seven or eight miles to go work in the landfill, ⁓ you know, to find copper or aluminum or anything like that that they can weigh and then sell. And ⁓ so she was walking by ⁓ at the time and wanted to swing through the medical clinic to try to get some ibuprofen because her son's jaw was swollen. ⁓ and he had been to a whatever type of health clinic a month or so prior for swelling in his jaw because ⁓ he had pain in his right mandible and ⁓ at the time they thought it they they told her that it was probably a bee sting and it just wasn't getting better and ⁓ she was walking past the land of hope and said I'm gonna swing in and try to get him some more ibuprofen or tyanol or something and ⁓ it just so happened she she swung in and ⁓ it it it was a day that Andy and I were there and ⁓ couple other dentists working. And so ⁓ that's nothing short of a miracle in itself. And so ⁓ we don't have X ray equipment down there yet. ⁓ that's the other thing we could use is a couple of laptops and the nomad and the sensor, but we don't have that yet. ⁓ Andy was taking out ⁓ it number thirty, it was mobile and ⁓ that's where his area of pain was and ⁓ You know, it when you've got an oral surgeon next to you taking out a tooth and ⁓ you know, we kinda chit chat, you know, chit chat back and forth. He takes out a tooth and he's, you know, ⁓ curetting the socket and I hear him say that ain't good and I didn't think much of it. And then I hear him say, That ain't good. And then I hear him say again, he said, Bro, this ain't good. After the third time an oral surgeon says that, I looked up and I said, What's going on? He said, This this isn't an abscess. So he took out a tooth in front of it, took out another tooth behind it. I you know, so I now I think he's taking out twenty nine. thirty, thirty one. And he said he showed me this curette just fell into an abyss and ⁓ he's just pulling out this just nasty case type substance. And I said, What what what is that? And he said, It's some sort of cancer malignancy. And so ⁓ he you know he cleaned out as much as he could or a little bit and stopped and ⁓ we we all gathered out front and ⁓ pulled Oscar over and said, Hey Oscar, this kid's got something that he needs you know further treatment of. It's some sort of jaw cancer or something. ⁓ you not knowing what it is with the the the setup that we had at the time out there. ⁓ and Oscar said, Well, but you know, we don't have any options. You guys are it. Well, no, we gotta have another option. He needs to get to a hospital, he needs to get to an oral surgeon and and have something done. He said, That's not how it works out here. Like, Well what do you what do you mean it's not how it works? What's gonna happen? You can we can we'll pray for him, ⁓ but he'll probably go out back into the trash and die and We weren't willing to accept that answer. You know, we're you know, we've we've got op you know options that you things you don't think about in the United States. That we we don't get have to face news or you know, like that. But so we're we're trying to talk to his mom and pray over we're praying over we got our whole group and we're praying over him and ⁓ that's when I thought, you know, I know my friend Adam works with this organization down in Guatemala called Orca, right, I think. And ⁓ so let let me see if Adam by chance has any sort of way to get this kid any sort of more definitive treatment or get him seen down here. So yeah, I put you on a WhatsApp with and within just a minute you had replied back and had this Roberto Fuentes guy ⁓ added into our chat. And Roberto Fuentes what he's an oral surgeon right at that hospital in Guatemala City. And like within an hour we had you replying, Roberto Fuentes replying. ⁓ Roberto Fuentes calling, talking to my oral surgeon friend Andy, and arranging to get Oscar transported into the city in Guatemala City, which is about a two or three hour drive, and and able to get him seen at that that private hospital ⁓ all within a few hours. ⁓ that that stuff doesn't just happen without some sort of divine intervention. ⁓ Roberto Fuentes saw him along with my friend Andy, they did a biopsy on him. I forget what the lesion was. It's not a malignancy, but it's as close to a malignancy as as you can get. Aggressive as one. he was going to lose his mandible, or at least the right side of his mandible. Dr. Fuentes had said that ⁓ he wanted to try to shrink the lesion in order to ⁓ limit the amount of resection they did have to do, but he was going to then rebuild him a mandible, ⁓ fibula, I think he'd said, and ⁓ get implants put in for him and do this entire case. free to Eddie and his family. I i I mean it would have to have been free because Eddie and his family don't have a dollar. And so he wanted to shrink the lesion initially by injecting it with steroids. So ⁓ he did several steroid injections, you know, getting him back into the hospital. And the lesion shrunk to the point where he hasn't required treatment. The lesion's almost completely gone just from the steroid injections and prayer. let's see. I'm trying to think some other and then Roberto Fuentes also wants to put ⁓ part of his oral surgery residency out at the land of hope. So the way that that story and that miracle happened, it's unbelievable. ⁓ Eddie did kind of turn into that typical thirteen, fourteen year old teenager. ⁓ he and his mom left the land of hope for a brief period of time, which we're ⁓ discouraged about. ⁓ I just heard a report a month ago. They're back living at Land of Hope again now. And Eddie just got baptized, ⁓ which is the the coolest thing ever. ⁓ there's another important part to the story. That's awesome. ⁓ tell us about the the doctor at the at the landfill. He had to get permission to go, didn't he? Yeah, that's that's the other part of the miracle. ⁓ we we couldn't get Eddie's mom to agree to put him into a car to let ⁓ my pastor friend Mark and Andy take him to the hospital in Guatemala City. There's another I'm gonna say doctor in the land in the landfill. It's a witch doctor. And so The first day that the mom was supposed to bring Eddie back for us to to see him for a follow up, they didn't return. And I just had this inkling that the mom was with the witch. And ⁓ so Oscar went out into the landfill and sure enough, ⁓ the witch was talking with Eddie and his mom. And the mom ⁓ wasn't sure if she wanted to pursue the treatment and the advice of the witch or ⁓ the oromaxillofacial surgeon that was down with me and ⁓ doctor Fuentes at the private hospital. And luckily the witch did say, you know what, I think maybe you guys should go with the oral surgeons. So she did advise that that Eddie come with us. I I don't remember ever having an instance where one of my patients was deciding whether they should ⁓ have treatment from me or a witch. ⁓ but then getting Eddie and his mom to get in a car was another miracle because the last time Eddie's mom had been in a car was when she was done being sex trafficked when she was fourteen or fifteen and thrown out of a car into a ditch. And so that was that that was, I think, how ten years prior. That was the last time she'd been in a car. So for her to get into a car with three white men with her son and ⁓ drive into Guatemala City, it was a huge undertaking. And it it took her a day and a half before she decided that she'd get in a car with them and go to Guatemala City. Eddie had never been outside of a landfill, he'd never seen a skyscraper. ⁓ I I wish I could have made that trip, but there wasn't room for me. Andy said, You should have seen Eddie get in an elevator. He'd never been in a building. He'd never seen cars like that. He'd never been in an elevator. ⁓ and they took him up to ⁓ the oral surgery center, and then they took him to the cafeteria afterwards for lunch. They stopped at a convenience store on the way back before they dropped Eddie and his mom off. And Andy said, you know, pick some stuff out, some snacks and ⁓ he and Eddie couldn't Eddie Andy said, Whatever you want, and he picked like one thing. He said, That's a good start, keep going. And ⁓ it it it just blew his mind that he was able to grab anything off the shelves he wanted ⁓ and and have it paid for by by Andy before he dropped him and his mom off. So so many cool stories like that. But that would have never happened had you and I not met in two thousand three and me thought of you while we were down there in Guatemala and that circle and the importance of relationships and how that all came together. We we not only saved Eddie's jaw, we saved his life. ⁓ and then his it sounds like soul has been saved since then as well, which is even the most important thing because as much as we do here on this life, this is what, fifty, sixty, eighty, ninety years if we're lucky. And then now to to think that he's got an eternity that's most likely saved as well, gives me goosebumps, man. The All-in All Linux Pod is brought to you by JB Dental Labs, the Elite Lab, trusted by full arch surgeons, procedontists, and digital forward practices internationally. JB specializes in precision full arch restorations, zirconia, PMMA, photogrammetry workflows, and fast turnaround times that don't sacrifice quality. JB delivers a truly digital workflow. Powered by their proprietary online portal for easy case uploads, real time tracking, and fast streamlined communication. If you're looking for a lab that understands immediate load, passive fit, and the demands of modern all on X dentistry, learn more at jbdentalab.com. Tell them that the all-in, all on X pod sent you. Yeah. Ooh, leaves me speed breathless. Like I can't, you know, just the story. ⁓ how people come together and ⁓ why ⁓ how everything happens for a reason in your lifetime, you know, and just who you know and the connections you make are so very important here. Roberto Fuentes, by the way, ⁓ I've spent a little bit of time with him, you know, more more than a little bit time with him. You know, oral surgeon, you know, but what a great man, humble man. You wouldn't even know he's an old sur he's not one of these guys that's like beating his chest like I'm an oral surgeon, you know, and Everyone else is beneath me, you know. He's just a really cool guy. You wouldn't even know it that he that he's an oral surgeon by trade. ⁓ I I got to meet him the last time we were down there. Yeah. ⁓ good. I told him we were gonna be in the area and invited him out, and I thought he'll never come. And ⁓ I forget what we were doing is on a Saturday afternoon and I saw this guy standing off along with a general dentist that a friend of his. And ⁓ somebody said, Hey, that's Dr. Fuentes. And I said, No kidding, he came out and so he came out and took a tour and He brought some of his ⁓ injectable steroid stuff and injected Andy or ⁓ Eddie in our little dental clinic there that afternoon too. And so we gotta spend an afternoon with him. And like he said, what a remarkable man. And the cases he does down there in Guatemala City, unbelievable. He's a phenomenal surgeon. ⁓ he's very good. You know, so ⁓ who rescued who, buddy? That's what we always say. We go down there to to serve, right? Yeah. Nope, and everybody that we take These you know, s we you know, we go down as the the the ones that think that we've got it all together. And it anybody with their eyes open and their heart open comes back realizing, are we the rich ones or are they the rich ones? I I I get to pray with people down there that walk miles to come if ⁓ Oscar called me in last time I was there, he Troy, would you come pray for this gal? She's in a hard situation and they they look at prayers as medicine. They'll walk miles to have somebody pray for them. And It it was humbling for me and I felt bad. I felt guilty because you know, I'll I'll pray once I've exhausted a lot of other options and think, okay, it can't hurt, right? They rely on it with their lives and the the value they put into their faith and their prayers. It it's humbling. You ever wake up on a Sunday morning and you just think, Man, it's gonna take a lot to get to church today. I mean I'm so tired. I'm gonna have to get up and I'm gonna have to shower and then I gotta start the car and then I gotta drive at six minutes. Or sixteen. Maybe I'll just Maybe I'll just watch it on YouTube or skip it. So true. You say they walk like eight miles to go. And that's why I try to take my kids on these trips at least once a year too. Because you know, especially when they were younger in their developmental years, when they'd fight over an iPhone charger or something. And then they get to go down there and rub shoulders with ⁓ with kids like Eddie. Yeah. They quick it's it's amazing though quickly you come back and you bring ⁓ back into the lifestyles that we have here. And how they can kinda fall out of it. So you need frequent reminders, frequent trips. Once a year everybody take your kids on a trip like that. At least once a year. Well, you mentioned them the the daughters, your daughters having mental, you know, anxiety and and and turmoil problems or whatever. I mean a lot of teenage girls in America they go they go through a lot of a lot of trials and tribulations, especially I mean they What they don't have in other countries is trials and tribulations they have here. You know, they certainly do. I mean, we live in this first world society, but in some ways the there are many demons here that aren't present other places. You know, and social media and ⁓ Yeah. Teenage girls, middle school girls, I tell you what, I don't think there's a tougher age or tougher place to be than middle school for a girl. Yeah. Do you feel that these trips in any way helped with their mental health or pri ⁓ was it even a primary factor or a factor at all? The They love those trips. ⁓ yeah, it it's rooted them. I think it it it it established some ⁓ some some deep rooted things that they're able to turn to and ⁓ rely on when they were going through their their difficult bouts back home. ⁓ luckily all my daughters are are you know strong and solid in their faith. And ⁓ when they're struggling, it's really encouraging to go into their rooms and see where they've been. They've had their Bible out and their journal out and they're journaling things. And you know, taking solace in that after seeing how cruel other girls and other kids can be to them, and then they retreat to something like that. And I thought, you know what? So it I guess it was important. And you know, even though it's hard getting to church and you know, I'd rather sleep in or I'd rather do something else on that Sunday morning, by exposing them to that and the trips and you know, keep beating that into them, and then you just hope that they turn to that at some point in time in their life. Like Hunter just did in his life, you know, and my daughters have all fallen back to that, which when they hit those hard points and when they fall to the turn you know how I say, you know, once I realized that the Lord was all I had, I realized I had all I needed. And the fact that they had realized that, it that makes me feel good as a as a parent. Maybe I did succeed a little bit with some of the things I I had them do growing up. Well it gives them ⁓ maybe if anything, just a little bit of gratitude for sure. The little things that they have in their life. Yeah. have they ever fully appreciated having you as a father? It's start I I think it's starting to get there. You know, they're ⁓ twenty-four, twenty-two, and nineteen. And I I can probably say the last few years they've realized some of the sacrifices that that you know maybe I've made or the comforts I've been able to provide to them that you know other kids probably didn't have. And so they're coming around. But it's just been recently. Yeah, I you know I I and that's been a struggle for me and a battle for me. I'd like I've I've so many times when I say, girls, you realize everything I gave up just so you know, to try to keep you between the ditches. You know, I I sold this practice that was making me more money than we could spend. We had a dream house and we had to give it all up for you to, you know, find your comfortable place, right? And so that's been a lot that I've had to kind of overcome and try and and it's that's still a work in progress too, where you know, I'm I'm mad at ⁓ frustrated with ⁓ I I went through these last five to six years have not been easy by any stretch. And now my kids are on and living you know, out living their lives and I'm still trying to create a new one just because they couldn't make it work in the place where I had ever you know life by the tail, right? And so They do recognize that and realize that and they've said, Dad, thank you so much. We realize all that you've done for us and you you've taken the bullet so we didn't have to, so to speak. And ⁓ so that does mean a lot. Hope hopefully someday I'm a well kept old man and my girls are taking care of me and ⁓ can help pay me back, right, for some of the sacrifices maybe that I made for them. Yeah. But they had a but at the same time they were living that life with a different dad. That was a different guy. They they definitely were. You know, I look back as could I could I have been a better dad or done things differently or better back then and maybe have avoided that. Or maybe help them avoid those struggles without us all having to kind of uproot and move and do some of the things we had to do. So no, yeah, I exactly. I I've got my regrets and ⁓ my failures as well. So yeah, that's life though. ⁓ you know, and y you can dwell on it or you you know, you can look ahead, look forward and ⁓ make the best out of the time we've got left. Well, I mean, everything that we've done in our life, you've done in your life, I've done in my life, I mean, it's all kind of made made us who we are now today. You know, the dark times, the trials, the failures make you better. Right? Right. Nobody's I don't think anybody's going through life completely unscathed. If they are, they're just not being s honest with themselves. So true. Anybody you know, I I would bet everybody listening out here, if they're honest with themselves, th has something that they wish they could change or do differently, or a struggle that maybe that they're wrapped up in that they just haven't quite fully let go of yet. ⁓ like your last podcast, you know, we we learn we learn a lot from our failures, if it's a full arch of implants or if it's ⁓ a decision that one of your kids makes. You know, if if it's a life decision or a dental decision, we learn a lot from failures. We can dwell on that or we can learn from it, move on, and try not to repeat that again in the future. You ⁓ I agree. You take in any new lessons into this? You so you've started a practice, brought in a partner, sold the practice, worked for other peop which is worked for someone else, which I know a little bit about that. I'm not maybe that's a a topic of another episode is your last five years. ⁓ but what are you taking into this new business development now with all these life lessons and a different perspective on life? Right. I wanna focus on purely on quality. and ⁓ doing things the right way. ⁓ there there's there's so many new advances in in full arch dentistry and ⁓ trying to stay up on that. ⁓ I you know I was was you know teaching at the Engel Institute, you know, the the the full arch ⁓ procedures, ⁓ dentists how to do that, but I have not, you know, taken a dive into remote anchorage and things that you're doing. And ⁓ it's been so cool seeing the success you've had with ⁓ you know zygos and pterygoids and things like that. I I think I'm at the the peak of my comfort level for doing those, ⁓ for for the types of surgeries I do. I d never say never, but I I I would much prefer my oral surgeon place those ⁓ zygos and pterygoids or send them to somebody like you and have you guys place those. ⁓ but I I I I want to do the types of treatment that is the best for the patient and ⁓ not compromise not not compromise ⁓ anything going forward. So ⁓ That that's what I plan to do in my new practice is ⁓ do things, do things well. ⁓ mentor the next generation of dentists. That's important for us. ⁓ show them the right way to do things. Well, I think you've got it all, buddy. I I mean I've known you for a long time, so I'll vouch for you for the listeners out there. You know, a couple of things I live by that I know you do as well. You know, one, you know, we treat people not teeth. It's always been my motto for twenty years. Right. And ⁓ and then two, I don't know if it was said to me or, you know, if it was just put in my head by God, but if you treat people right, the money will follow. You know, I've never I I've never looked at a bank statement, you know I mean, that's not true. I mean I've looked at them, but I've never looked at them day to day. I'm happy to hear you say that. Yep. Yeah. I mean, just I look at them, you know, like what's the last three or six months done? ⁓ okay. Yeah. Like I've got friends that focus on their daily product, you know, they'll take spreadsheets home and they focus on their daily production, their half day production, their hourly production. you know, and I've always said I I would be the easiest person in the world to embezzle from because I've never looked at it. There's just always been enough. My my dad is ⁓ he he's been ⁓ the the primary person in my life who I admire more than anybody, and he's always said that exact same thing. You just take care of people and the money will be there. The amount of money you have is a direct reflection of the number of people you help. And it it's so true. I've never worried about having enough or making piles of money. Who I well, other than what I said at the beginning, I wanted piles of money and and you know, I just would work harder and it was there. But no, that that's so true. Y practice growth practic practice success. If you truly care about the person sitting in the chair and ⁓ doing the best you can for them, there's always going to be a person in your chair and there's always going to be enough. I'm convinced of that. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and on the embezzlement buddy, you know, don't be taken advantage of. ⁓ I can I can give you some systems and tips to segregate and divide and that happens too. I've got no three or four buddies have been that have been embezzled from. It happens. That's scary to think that it does, but it does. gonna happen to everybody, you know, you know, but we got systems in place and and check checks and balances. And so, you know, on this, ⁓ I actually ⁓ our practice put a girl in jail a couple of years ago because ⁓ she started stealing from day two on the job and I think we caught it and figured out who it was in three months and she still got like twenty five grand but you know I guess ⁓ you know we we but our systems caught it right away. You know, twenty five grand not a lot. And ⁓ you know, she did a little jail time and ⁓ you know, it d it doesn't hurt when the Virginia Beach detective that you get that you call used to be a Marine ⁓ and you know the same people the same year in nineteen ninety three. You know? My old dental school roommate said that ⁓ I think he lost over a hundred thousand dollars from ⁓ the gal at his front desk and ⁓ a couple others with the exact same experiences, so it happens. ⁓ people can lose that in a month or six. It's not it doesn't take long. ⁓ if they're not watching. But ⁓ you don't have to be the point my point is you don't have to be reading your reading your income report every day to catch it. You just need some systems in place. Or or making ⁓ yeah. Or have money define who I am as a person. If I ever become that way or go back to being that way, I I've given about five people permission in my life to smack me up alongside the head because That's the last thing I want for the rest of my life is to make money define me. You're not taking any of it to eternity, right? ⁓ so true. Let's make this you know, maybe this is a good last question then. If so you're a prison dentist. ⁓ You're currently a na you're still a navy dentist, naval. I always said I was going to get back in the navy. I was gonna get out, do private practice, raise my daughters. in a you know, in one spot for stability, which may I don't know if that really worked, but my goal was to always go back in the Navy because I loved it so much. And so yeah, three years ago my wife gave me permission to go back in the reserves. So yeah, I do the weekend a month and two weeks a year. I'm actually coming out to Virginia Beach this weekend to do dental exams ⁓ for my adaptive mobilization medical unit. And I think we're having brunch together on Sunday you said. Yeah, yeah. If you you let me know when you're available. I'll ⁓ make time for you. And my reasons for going into the Navy this time, it's not about getting school paid for or money. ⁓ it's purely pride and patriotism now and for having a little bit of fun. So I was extremely happy to come back into the Navy. I I love every day I get to put that uniform back on. That's awesome. Navy officer. Yeah, prison dentist. ⁓ Navy officer, Navy dentist, ⁓ teacher at Engel, ⁓ and probably other places, missionary, husband, father. You're a drummer. ⁓ you've been always been an athlete. So if you couldn't do dentistry tomorrow, maybe I named it, maybe I didn't, but if you weren't a dentist, what would what would you want to be remembered? Who would Troy Kaiz be? Right. I I hope and pray that when I'm gone, ⁓ that people say, Hey, Troy Kaies, boy, he was a good dentist. I hope that's ninth on the list of what things people say. ⁓ that's not the legacy that I wanna wanna leave behind. And so, ⁓ no, I and if I couldn't do dentistry, I've I've got so, as you just mentioned, so many interests out there, rampant ADHD. I I I'm talking with ⁓ you know my friends that I mentioned earlier, Luke and Noel, and maybe ⁓ doing some work with them and ⁓ you know, guys our age that are struggling in business and in life, and ⁓ being able to walk alongside them and say, you know what, I was there too. Let me walk with you. Instead of stand back and say, Hey, you should do this differently, do this differently, maybe decide this differently. You know what? Come with me, walk beside me and ⁓ and let's do this together. ⁓ so if I could find a way to make a living just talking with people and helping guys out, I think there'd be nothing better. And then throw in some mission trips and ⁓ giving away free things to people in need. I that's the other thing that I would love to do. Yeah, so let's ⁓ close with telling people how to how to get in touch with you about Guatemala, about your mission trips and and other things. How how do we get in touch with you? Yeah, ⁓ my phone number is ⁓ and I and I check my phone often. I'd say text me at six zero five two five four three seven nine three. Otherwise my email address is doctor Kais at Covenant Dental dot net. All right, let's make some miracles happen. Reach out to Troy and ⁓ Troy, man, this has been r ⁓ like it's b I mean, I've been breathless. It's been moving. I've known you for a long time, but just to hear you kinda lay it all out in the last sixty five minutes or whatever we've been on, just over an hour, you know, it just blows me away. You know, makes me want to go home and be a better person today and And tomorrow and every day. So and I thought I was doing okay, but I gotta step it up. And I hope someday I'm half the implant guy you are. It's been so cool to not only be able to call you my buddy, but to look up to you as a mentor now. You're doing amazing things. And to see your success out there, ⁓ it makes me really proud to be able to see how well you're doing out there with that. So keep up the good work. Thanks, man. But when you said I ⁓ that you know he Troy Kies was a great dentist. I hope that's the ninth thing they say about him. I kind of feel the same way. Yeah, that guy could do some implants and make some teeth. Well, I hope that's the ninth thing that they remember about me when I get done. So, same as you, brother. Amen. All right, man. Well, ⁓ hey, thanks for spending this hour with me, bud. Thanks for the time and we'll see you Sunday, hopefully. Yeah, I'll see you Sunday. We'll we'll put the hog on, I'll be ready for you. Sounds great. Everybody have have a great day. Thanks for listening.