Skip to main content (Press Enter).
 News
    
        Photos

    Week in Photos

    Air Force TV

    Commentaries

    Features

    Art

    About Us
    
        Air Force Senior Leaders
    
        SECAF

    CSAF

    CMSAF

    Biographies

    Fact Sheets

    SECAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library
    
        CSAF Leadership Library 2022

    CSAF Leadership Library 2021

    CSAF Reading List Pre-2020 Archive
    
        2018 CSAF Reading List

    2017 CSAF Reading List

    2016 CSAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library 2023

    CMSAF Leadership Library

    50 Years of the CMSAF

    Adjunct Professors

    Air Force Strategic Documents

    Arctic Strategy

    Empowered Airmen

    State Licensure Portability

    Careers

    AF Federal Advisory Committees

    AF 75th Anniversary

    Policy Updates

    AF Content Management

    Contact Us

    AF Sites
    
        Site RegistrationU.S. Air Force LogoAir Force

        Policy UpdatesNewsroomReoptimizationBIOGRAPHIESAF Senior Leaders      Keesler AFB dental, oncologists innovate radiation therapy tool for cancer patientsPublished Dec. 13, 2021
                    
                    By Senior Airman Spencer Tobler
                    
                    
                    81st Training Wing Public Affairs
            **KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. (AFNS) --**In an effort to make radiation therapy for cancer patients more precise and effective, **Keesler****Air Force Base**’s **81st Diagnostic and Therapeutic Squadron** and the 81st Dental Squadron innovated a way to craft more precise radiation boluses for patients undergoing care with the **81st Medical Group**.
The bolus acts as a medium for the radiation and enables oncologists to lay down a precise amount of energy to a cancer infected area. Radiation particles don’t output energy unless they have a medium to travel through.Stephen Deries, 81st Dental Squadron dental lab technician, demonstrates the technology used to make dentures inside Keesler Medical Center at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., Oct. 4, 2021. In a partnership with the 81st Medical Diagnostics and Therapeutic Squadron’s radiation and oncology flight, Deries discovered a way to create custom radiation boluses for cancer patients receiving radiation therapy.Stephen Deries, 81st Dental Squadron dental lab technician, demonstrates the technology used to make dentures inside Keesler Medical Center at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., Oct. 4, 2021. In a partnership with the 81st Medical Diagnostics and Therapeutic Squadron’s radiation and oncology flight, Deries discovered a way to create custom radiation boluses for cancer patients receiving radiation therapy. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Spencer Tobler)
            
            
            Photo Details /
                Download Hi-Res

    











“In radiation therapy, we use high energy particles to treat cancer,” said Col. Jason Hayes, 81st MDTS radiation oncologist. “The word bolus actually refers to a piece of equipment that helps concentrate the dose of radiation energy at the skin’s surface.”
When treating something on the skin’s surface with radiation therapy, the very upper layers of the skin won’t receive the radiation because the dose doesn’t start building up until it’s beneath the top layer of the skin, Hayes said.
Historically, oncologists used flexible pieces of rubber taped to patient’s faces.
“The old boluses were always cumbersome,” Hayes said. “It’d never be reproduced exactly how it was last time. Some of these patients can have up to 20 treatments.”
With the help of dental, oncology now has the ability to customize boluses.
“We got an impression of the patients’ faces using our computer aid design scanner to scan the patient’s face,” said Stephen Dereis, 81st DS dental laboratory technician. “We essentially tricked our computer into thinking the person’s face was a dental model, as far as the computer thinks, it’s just one weird looking mouth.”An inEos X5 scanner scans a mold at the Keesler Medical Center at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., Oct. 4, 2021. In a partnership with the 81st Medical Diagnostics and Therapeutic Squadron’s radiation and oncology flight, the 81st Dental Squadron found a way to create custom radiation boluses for cancer patients receiving radiation therapy.An inEos X5 scanner scans a mold at the Keesler Medical Center at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., Oct. 4, 2021. In a partnership with the 81st Medical Diagnostics and Therapeutic Squadron’s radiation and oncology flight, the 81st Dental Squadron found a way to create custom radiation boluses for cancer patients receiving radiation therapy. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Spencer Tobler)
            
            
            Photo Details /
                Download Hi-Res

    










The new bolus making process for each patient has made radiation treatment more effective and helped patient treatment increase in quality and consistency.
“This partnership with dental is going to help us be more efficient and exact, which in-turn, will make us safer,” Hayes said. “If I talk to another radiation oncologist we think alike, but when I talk to a dentist or another medical provider they approach problems differently and the outcome is almost always something novel.”FS 



USAF 



AF 



Air Force 



cancer 



medical 



Treatment 



dental 



Keesler AFB 



innovation 



AETC 



Air Education and Training Command 



radiation 



bolus 



equipment 



design 



therapeutic Featured News
        Senior Leader Priorities
                SecAF, CSAF, CMSAF begin Indo-Pacific trip focused on ACE
                    
                    DAF leaders talk budget, reoptimizing the force
                    
                    DAF leaders speak at National Character and Leadership Symposium
                    
                    DAF members recognized during BEYA STEM awards
                    
                    DAF senior enlisted advisors discuss Airmen, Guardians in the fightInnovation
                F-16s arrive to be modified for autonomous testing
                    
                    AFWERX director discusses role of tech startups, quick innovation in Great Power Competition
                    
                    DAF delivers lethality at the speed of data during Project Convergence Capstone 4
                    
                    DAF welcomes industry partners to HQ development program
                    
                    DAF announces Spark Tank 2024 finalistsMAJCOM News
                Safety enterprise announces new mission, vision, goals in 2024 strategic plan
                    
                    Air Combat Command welcomes new commander
                    
                    USAFE-AFAFRICA commander discusses Integrated Air, Missile Defense during Munich Security Conference
                    
                    Flosi to AFMC family: Embrace change, make every day count
                    
                    AMC rises to increasing global tension
 Quick Links
AccessibilityContact UsEqual OpportunityFOIA | Privacy | Section 508Information QualityInspector GeneralJAG Court-Martial DocketLink DisclaimerNo FEAR ActOpen GovernmentOSI Tip LinePlain LanguageQuestionsResilienceRSSSite MapVeterans Crisis LineCareers
Join the Air ForceAir Force BenefitsAir Force CareersAir Force ReserveAir National GuardCivilian ServiceConnect
            Get Social with Us
            
            Official United States Air Force Website
    Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil