Letter on Sustainability

A Message to Our Customers

I hope this letter finds you and your families safe and healthy. The global pandemic that dominated 2020 challenged all of us in a truly unprecedented way. I am very proud of how Dentsply Sirona navigated the constantly evolving situation – our response underscored the resilience of our Company and its people. As it became evident that COVID-19 was going to have a profound impact on the dental market, the Executive Management Team and Board together formalized a response that prioritized our employee safety, customer support, and the financial health of the Company. Thanks to our investment in digitization over the past few years, we were able to quickly transition our people to remote working in order to ensure seamless customer service as well as offer digital education.

Future Focus

As critically important as our response to the COVID-19 crisis was, it was equally important that we keep a firm focus on how to enable Dentsply Sirona to thrive going forward. We made significant strides within major strategic initiatives focused on accelerating growth, improving our margins, and simplifying the Company structure - including our manufacturing footprint, where we have reduced our manufacturing sites from 42 to 30 over the last three years. We also completed a number of strategic acquisitions including Byte, a high-growth direct-to-consumer clear aligner company, and Datum Dental, a biomaterials company focused on bone regeneration. In addition, we continued to innovate, successfully launching a number of new products such as Axeos, Schick AE sensor, Surefil One, and Primemill. All of this gives Dentsply Sirona scale in critical, fast-growing segments and enables us to accelerate growth and deliver against our key priorities.

Innovative Products and Integrated Solutions

As I reflect on all that we faced in 2020, I am reminded more than ever of the importance of remaining anchored in our purpose: Every day, we empower millions of customers by proudly creating innovative solutions for healthy smiles.

At the heart of our business is the creation of innovative products and integrated solutions that transform dentistry to improve oral health globally. We work every single day to exceed expectations – those of our customers, our employees, our shareholders, and the communities in which we live and work.

About Our Sustainability Report

Attesting to this commitment, we are excited to publish our inaugural Sustainability Report, Taking Action for A Brighter World, which outlines our sustainability strategy and ambitions now and beyond, and discloses our sustainability performance in 2020. This builds on years of work around our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) platform, which provides a strong foundation on which to become sustainability leaders in the industry.

Sustainable Business Practices Are Dentsply Sirona’s Responsibility

Our sustainability ambition is woven into the fabric of who we are, how we operate as a business and our commitment to our employees, customers, partners and communities in which we operate.

Dentsply Sirona’s New Sustainability Strategy

Over the course of 2020, we made strong progress in laying the foundation for our new sustainability strategy – driven by our cross-functional Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Committee, led by our Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jorge Gomez. While we’ve made tremendous progress already, we know that there is a lot of work ahead of us.

Moving Beyond

As we emerge from the pandemic and look to the future, our five key operating principles will guide us to ensure we remain part of the solution:

1. We approach customers as ONE Company and they are core to everything we do.
2. We create innovative solutions that customers love to use.
3. We think and act with positive intent and the highest integrity. 
4. We operate sustainably in everything we do.
5. We use our size and global breadth to our advantage. 

Building on our corporate responsibility strategy, we are implementing these principles with renewed focus through our sustainability strategy, supported by three pillars of action – Healthy Planet, Healthy Smiles, Healthy Business.

The Challenges Ahead

If there is one lesson that I believe we will take away from 2020, it is knowing the meaningful impact we can make when we work collaboratively to achieve our purpose. I have been inspired by the resilience showed by our entire global team. While there will undoubtedly be challenges to navigate in the future, we are in a strong position to confront them, and I look forward to entering this new chapter with renewed focus and ambition.