Dentsply Sirona


Dentsply Sirona is an American dental equipment maker and dental consumables producer that markets its products in over 120 countries. It has factories in 21 countries. The present company is largely the result of a merger in 1993 in which Gendex Corporation acquired Dentsply International Inc. for $590 million.
As an equipment maker, it designs and manufactures laboratory and specialty products relating to dental supplies. With regards to consumable products, it specializes in anesthetics, plaque and gum disease prevention and tooth polishers. It also designs and constructs artificial teeth. It has also been cited as a key player in the future-intra oral flat panel sensor market. Because of the income disparity between wealthy and developing nations, the variety of products in demand differs from region to region.
On January 17, 2018, Dentsply Sirona announced the appointment of Donald M. Casey Jr., formerly CEO of the Medical Segment of Cardinal Health, as CEO and a member of the board.
In 2018 a Netherlands-based certification company awarded Dentsply the “Top Employer” certification.
In 2019 the company joined forces with the American Association for Dental Research to co-sponsor the Student Competition for Advancing Dental Research and its Application. The SCADA aims to bolster students research.

History

1899–2000

Dentsply was founded by four New York businessmen in 1899 as Dentists' Supply Company, about the same time it made its first acquisition, a Pennsylvania porcelain teeth manufacturer. One of the four founders, George H. Whiteley became the main operator of the company as a result of his experience as a ceramicist. Whiteley's contributions to the company were invaluable as he was responsible for many innovations such as a patented process involving platinum rings that reduced tooth breakage. Other innovations included better fitting dentures, tooth size for people of different face shapes and age specific colored teeth.
In the early 1920s, the company selected European distributor E. de Trey & Sons as its primary marketer to Europe, however it quickly became the company's main distributor in the US also. A rivalry between De Trey and the main other denture equipment producer at the time, Ash Company, nearly eliminated cash flows due to extreme price cutting. The problem was resolved when the two decided to merge their distribution businesses into one named the Amalgamated Dental Company Limited. In 1925, 45% of Zahnfabrik was bought by Dentists' Supply and its distributor Amalgamated Dental bought a 30% interest in the manufacturer.
High American tariffs and increased efforts to gain market share abroad, especially in Europe and Australia, led the company to set up more research and manufacturing centers abroad. Its first foreign subsidiary was established in Australia as a means to acquire Natudryl Manufacturing. In the 1950s and 1960s the company developed many of the ideas used by its equipment today like tooth cleaning machine Dentsply Cavitron and Neolux which improved the finish of plastic teeth. The company renamed itself Dentsply International in 1969 due to its products' brand name being more widely recognized.
Key acquisitions by Dentists' Supply Company: LD Caulk Company in 1963, Ransom and Randolph Company in 1964, F&F Koenigkramer Company. Largest was Amalgamated Dental Industrial in 1976.
In 1993, after it acquired Gendex Corporation in a reverse takeover, the company went public on the NASDAQ. The new company then purchased medical X-ray tubes supplier Eureka X-Ray Inc., which was key since Gendex was a major manufacturer of X-ray systems. Healthco, its main distributor in the US, went bankrupt in 1993.

2000–present

In 2010, the most important markets for sales were Europe & CIS, USA, Latin America, Asia, Canada, Japan, Middle East & Africa and Australia. Dentsply holds a leading market share in the dental restorative sector.
In June 2011, Dentsply acquired Astra Tech, the world's third largest maker of dental implants from the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca for $1.8 billion. The deal raises revenue by 25% and was completed on August 31, 2011. Acquisitions in 2011 caused the value of long term debt to increase by 147% while total assets grew by 146%. Acquisition/restructuring charges were one of the reasons net income decreased 7.4%.
Markets outside the United States are becoming increasingly important: they accounted for 67% of Dentsply revenue in 2013 steady with 2012 but up from 66% and 63% the previous two years.
In 2012, acquisitions contributed all of the growth in sales. 2012 sales growth by region: Europe 27.5%, USA 13.8%, elsewhere 15.9%. 88% of net sales were in dental products, 12% from consumable medical device products.
On February 29, 2016 Dentsply combined with Long Island-based Sirona Dental Systems in a $14.5 billion merger of equals. While both supply dental products, Sirona's business centers on dental equipment in contrast with Dentsply's consumables.
In 2017, CEO Jeffrey Slovin, executive chairman Bret Wise, and president Christopher Clark all resigned. On January 17, 2018, Dentsply Sirona announced the appointment of Donald Casey Jr., formerly CEO of the Medical Segment of Cardinal Health, as CEO and a member of the board, with Casey to take the role in February and succeed interim CEO Mark Thierer.