Dr. Steck concludes 29 years in Cardington

By Eve­lyn Long -

When Dr. David Steck sold his Card­ing­ton den­tal prac­tice at 111 East Main Street to Fam­ily Den­tal Clinic on Sep­tem­ber 18, 2012, he con­cluded 29 years of prac­tice in Cardington.

It was Octo­ber, 1983 that the young den­tist, a June grad­u­ate of The Ohio State Uni­ver­sity Col­lege of Den­tistry, arrived in Card­ing­ton to become its first res­i­dent den­tist since the early 1940’s. He brought with him his wife, Sandy, an expe­ri­enced den­tal assis­tant who became her husband’s den­tal assis­tant, and their daugh­ter, Nissa.

A Colum­bus native and a grad­u­ate of Whet­stone High School, Steck had first con­sid­ered a career in Elec­tri­cal Engi­neer­ing but after one year of school he decided the career was not for him. He later grad­u­ated from the Fisher Col­lege of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion which was a great aid for him in his later den­tal prac­tice. He chose den­tistry after search­ing a library of books — “It was a choice that I have never regret­ted,” he said.

Fol­low­ing grad­u­a­tion from the den­tal school, he learned there were “too many grad­u­ates for intern­ships avail­able, so I just decided to hang out my shin­gle.” The search for that place to hang his shin­gle was nar­rowed after he learned that the city of Mans­field had six new den­tists and Mount Gilead already had three. Dr. Brown, a Mount Gilead den­tist and a pro­fes­sor at OSU, took him under his wing and sug­gested Card­ing­ton because of its lack of a den­tist. Dr. Wm. Lee then offered the three empty patient rooms in his office at 117 East Main Street and that’s where Dr. Steck hung his shin­gle. He prac­ticed from that office for the next six years, shar­ing the wait­ing room with Dr. Lee’s patients. Then in 1989, Frank Jessie decided to sell his busi­ness next door, at 111 East Main Street and Steck pur­chased it assum­ing the tor­nado dis­as­ter fund.

“From the begin­ning I’ve had a full day of patients, 12– 15 a day, he said. His prac­tice included fill­ings, cos­metic den­tistry, braces, extrac­tions, etc.

“My late day was always Wednes­day,” he said, ” so we could accom­mo­date patients who worked in the day. For many years his office was open five days a week and Sat­ur­day mornings.

Tak­ing its toll on his prac­tice, though, was the “busi­ness end,” where the increas­ing demand for paper work was tak­ing more and more of his time. “I have never tired of the prac­tice of den­tistry,” said the doctor.

“It’s been a whirl­wind,” he said of his prac­tice “I love being here — I would have been unhappy in Colum­bus. I like the small town — I don’t have to worry about my neigh­bors — the kids grew up in the den­tal office — I don’t regret it one bit.”

His career was inter­rupted in 2005 when he suf­fered a heart attack — but after one week in the hos­pi­tal, he was back in his office, treat­ing the den­tal needs of his patients.

Sandy has helped through the years as his den­tal assis­tant. She is a Grove­port native who earned her den­tal assis­tant cre­den­tials from the East­land Voca­tional School. She met Dr. Steck at a den­tal con­ven­tion and the cou­ple attend that annual con­ven­tion each year not only to learn more and min­gle with col­leagues but to return to the event where they first met.

Active in the com­mu­nity — he belongs to the Masonic Lodge and the Card­ing­ton Rotary Club — they are mem­bers of St. John’s Lutheran Church, Wind­fall, where they serve in many areas.

Dr. Steck has also sup­ported school groups, such as the school’s music boost­ers where he has spon­sored the photo on the band cal­en­dar for many years.

In addi­tion to Nissa, the Stecks are par­ents to Bart, a grad­u­ate of OSU and a res­i­dent of Tel­lury, Col­orado and Moriah, a res­i­dent of Dublin and an employee of Nes­tles where she is a micro biol­o­gist and she is also a zoologist.

Nissa and her hus­band, Kevin Peak, have four chil­dren; Tyler, 12 and triplets, Gabi, Andru and Gar­ri­son, 6. They are stu­dents at River Val­ley School.

The Stecks plan to stay in Card­ing­ton. He will also work one day a week, Thurs­day, in the Fam­ily Den­tal Clinic. Patients who have ques­tions are wel­come to call him at his home, 419–864-6635.

Posted by Taylor Kaser on Oct 10 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.