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. On February 29, 2016 Dentsply merged with Sirona Dental Systems. Sirona's origins go back to Erwin Moritz Reiniger, a mechanical engineer at the University of Erlangen, Germany. He began producing dental drills in the 1880s. Together, Dentsply and Sirona form the world's largest dental equipment and consumables company.