Meet COL Jason K. Marquart, the new Commander of Irwin Army Community Hospital and a proud Kansas native. In this introductory interview, COL Marquart gets real about the challenges of military healthcare, his vision for improving access to care, and his personal commitment to protecting Fort Riley families while the Big Red One is deployed.
Music title "Resolutions" by Scott Buckley (@ScottBuckley) – released under CC-BY 4.0.
Starting July 1, 2026, Fort Riley Dental Clinics will officially phase out the routine use of heavy lead aprons and thyroid collars during dental X-rays. Thanks to modern digital technology, skipping the apron actually decreases your overall risk of radiation exposure.
Following a recent Defense Health Agency memorandum and guidelines released by the American Dental Association in February 2024, all military dental clinics are discontinuing routine use of lead aprons and thyroid collars.
While the absence of the lead apron may seem concerning to patients accustomed to the practice, LTC Aaron Amano, the Fort Riley Dental Health Activity Commander, explains the shift is due to advancements in medical technology designed to decrease...
06.30.2026 | FORT RILEY, KANSAS, US |
Story by Jorge Gomez
For decades, dental teams relied on heavy lead aprons like the one pictured here at to shield patients from old-school film X-rays. Today, Fort Riley’s modern digital radiography has reduced radiation to such negligible levels that the heavy apron is no longer clinically necessary. With modern digital radiography, a routine X-ray emits less radiation exposure than a standard cross-country commercial flight.
