Resident Spotlight: Nelson Kanning

Dr. Nelson Kanning never wanted to be a dentist or a doctor. Having grown up in a family with a father and brothers in the medical field he wanted to be different and so he went into professional fundraising. However, after several years of pursuing a career as different from his family as he could find, he realized he longed for a place where he could make an even bigger difference in people’s lives — raising money was one thing, but actually being the agent of change was another.

After completing dental school, he returned to his small hometown of Lawson, Missouri to take over his father’s dental practice. A small town practice means that he is usually the only option for dental health. People in Lawson aren’t looking for cosmetic dentistry, they are looking for total body health.

Because Dr. Kanning started practicing dentistry at 35, he felt pressure to get as much experience and training in the shortest amount of time as possible. In addition, he knows that when it comes to dental health for the people in Lawson, Missouri he needs to be able to treat as many problems as possible with the least amount of expense and invasiveness.

Dr. Kanning attended a webinar hosted by Dr. Craig Herre, co-founder of The Stewart Center, and what he heard made sense. The ability to treat pain, worn dentition, and chronic problems by first addressing occlusion and bite.

“I attended Spear and loved it, but it really isn’t an apples to apples comparison. Spear is huge and there is no ‘Kathy’ or ‘Hal’ or ‘Craig’ that I can call whenever I need assistance. I also knew that unless somebody forced me to complete a case I would never feel comfortable implementing the techniques on my own. The Stewart Center walked me through my first cases and gave me the confidence I needed to complete composite cases from the very beginning.”

We are confident that Dr. Nelson Kanning will have a long-lasting impact on the people of Lawson Missouri.