DENTSPLY International Inc. Declares Dividend And Announces Stock Split.

Business Editors/Health & Medical Writers

YORK, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 12, 2001

DENTSPLY International Inc. (NASDAQ:XRAY) today announced that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $.06875 per share of common stock, an indicated annual rate of $.275 per share.

The dividend is payable on January 3, 2002 to holders of record on December 21, 2001.

The Company also announced that the Board of Directors has approved a 3-for-2 stock split. The stock split will be effected through the distribution of one newly-issued share of Common Stock, par value $.01 per share, for every two outstanding shares of Common Stock held by stockholders of record as of January 15, 2002 and will be payable on January 31, 2002.

As a result of the stock split, the Company's outstanding Common Stock will increase to approximately 78 million shares.

Mr. John C. Miles II, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, "This stock split reflects both our Board of Directors' and management's confidence in the strength of our current business as well as our future opportunities. We believe the strategic acquisitions completed in 2001 position DENTSPLY for exciting growth opportunity in 2002 and beyond."

DENTSPLY designs, develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of products for the dental market.

The Company believes that it is the world's leading manufacturer and distributor of dental prosthetics, precious metal dental alloys, dental ceramics, endodontic instruments and materials, prophylaxis paste, dental sealants, ultrasonic scalers, dental injectible anesthetics and crown and bridge materials; the leading United States manufacturer and distributor of dental x-ray equipment, dental handpieces, intraoral cameras, dental x-ray film holders, film mounts and bone substitute/grafting materials; and a leading worldwide manufacturer or distributor of impression materials, orthodontic appliances, dental cutting instruments and dental implants.

The Company distributes its dental products in over 120 countries under some of the most well established brand names in the industry.

DENTSPLY is committed to the development of innovative, high quality, cost-effective new products for the dental market.

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of the Company.

Actual events or results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements set forth herein as a result of certain risk factors, including, without limitation, the difficulty of successfully combining the operations of Degussa with those of DENTSPLY in a timely manner, the ability to continue to generate sufficient cash flow to pay down the additional debt as planned, and the significant increase in DENTSPLY's debt-to-capitalization ratio as a result of financing the acquisitions.

For an additional description of risk factors, please refer to the Company's Form 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.