To ensure patient comfort, safety, and dignity, military treatment facilities in the Defense Health Agency use trained medical chaperones for appointments. While our staff will offer a chaperone for sensitive exams, every patient has the right to request one at any time for any reason, ensuring you feel respected and supported in your care.
Music title "Snowfall" by Scott Buckley (@ScottBuckley) – released under CC-BY 4.0.
Just weeks away from graduation, four students in Fort Riley’s Dental Assistant Training Program are preparing to step into careers many of them had never considered.
“I didn’t think I would ever seek something like this,” said Taylor Birkett, a military spouse who had been pursuing a degree in anesthesiology. “But now that I’ve done it, I’m glad I took the chance. It’s way more hands-on than anything I was doing before.”
Birkett is one of four students who will complete the program April 29, culminating more than 800 hours of classroom instruction and clinical training at Fort Riley dental clinics. What sets the program apart is not just the depth of training, but that it comes at no cost to participants.
That single...
03.23.2026 | FORT RILEY, KANSAS, US |
Story by Jorge Gomez
Taylor Birkett, a military spouse and student in the Dental Assistant Training Program, demonstrates precision as she positions an X-ray machine for a patient. Mastering the technical skills required for accurate imaging is part of the program, a journey Birkett took on after initially pursuing anesthesiology, discovering a passion for the hands-on complexities of dental care.
