The Company maintains both U.S. and non-U.S. employee defined contribution plans. The primary U.S. plan, the Dentsply Sirona Inc. 401(k) Savings Plan (the "Plan"), allows eligible employees to contribute a portion of their cash compensation to the plan on a tax-deferred basis, and in most cases, the Company provides a matching contribution. The Plan includes various investment funds. The Company makes a discretionary cash contribution that is initially targeted to be 3% of compensation. Each eligible participant who elects to defer to the Plan will receive a matching contribution of 100% on the first 1% contributed and 50% on the next 5% contributed for a total maximum matching contribution of 3.5%. In addition to the primary U.S. plan, the Company also maintains various other U.S. and non-U.S. defined contribution and non-qualified deferred compensation plans. The annual expenses, net of forfeitures, were $41 million, $39 million and $36 million for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021, and 2020, respectively.

The Company maintains defined benefit pension plans for certain employees in Austria, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the U.S. These plans provide benefits based upon age, years of service and remuneration. Substantially all of the German and Swedish plans are unfunded book reserve plans. Most employees and retirees outside the U.S. are covered by government health plans.

The Company predominantly derives its discount rates by applying the specific spot rates along the yield curve to the relevant projected cash flows; or, in markets where there is an absence of a sufficiently deep corporate bond market, it uses liability durations in establishing its discount rates, which are observed from indices of high-grade corporate or government bond yield in the respective economic regions of the plan. For the large defined benefits pension plans, the Company uses a spot rate approach for the estimation of the Service cost and Interest cost components of benefit cost by applying the specific spot rates along the yield curve to the relevant projected cash flows.

Significant changes in the retirement plan benefit obligations for the year ended December 31, 2022 include a $162 million actuarial gain primarily attributable to the increase in discount rates, the effect of which is slightly offset by the change in inflation and salary increase assumptions in some plans. The changes also include a $1 million actuarial gain due to demographic assumption changes and a $14 million actuarial loss due to plan experience different than anticipated.

Significant changes in the retirement plan benefit obligations for the year ended December 31, 2021 include a $26 million actuarial gain primarily attributable to the increase in discount rates, the effect of which is slightly offset by the change in inflation and salary increase assumptions in some plans. The changes also include a $6 million actuarial gain due to demographic assumption changes and a $16 million actuarial loss due to plan experience different than anticipated.

The primary investment strategy is to ensure that the assets of the plans, along with anticipated future contributions, will be invested in order that the benefit entitlements of employees, pensioners and beneficiaries covered under the plan can be met when due with high probability. Pension plan assets consist mainly of common stock and fixed income investments. The target allocations for defined benefit plan assets are 30% to 65% equity securities, 30% to 65% fixed income securities, 0% to 15% real estate, and 0% to 25% in all other types of investments. Equity securities include investments in companies located both in and outside the U.S. Equity securities in the defined benefit pension plans do not include Company common stock contributed directly by the Company. Fixed income securities include corporate bonds of companies from diversified industries, government bonds, mortgage notes and pledge letters. Other types of investments include investments in mutual funds, insurance contracts, hedge funds and real estate. These plan assets are not recorded in the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheet as they are held in trust or other off-balance sheet investment vehicles.

The defined benefit pension plan assets maintained in Austria, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Taiwan all have separate investment policies but generally have an objective to achieve a long-term rate of return in excess of 2% while at the same time mitigating the impact of investment risk associated with investment categories that are expected to yield greater than average returns. In accordance with the investment policies, the plans’ assets were invested in the following investment categories: interest-bearing cash, U.S. and foreign equities, foreign fixed income securities (primarily corporate and government bonds), insurance company contracts, real estate and hedge funds.

Reconciliation of changes in the defined benefit obligations, fair value of assets and statement of funded status were as follows:




	Year Ended December 31,
(in millions)	2022		2021

Change in Benefit Obligation
Benefit obligation at beginning of year	$	619	$	675
Service cost	12		17
Interest cost	5		3
Participant contributions	4		4
Actuarial gains	(149)		(16)
Plan amendments	—		(1)
Acquisitions/Divestitures	—		(2)
Effect of exchange rate changes	(35)		(41)

Plan curtailments and settlements	(1)		(1)
Benefits paid	(15)		(19)
Benefit obligation at end of year	$	440	$	619

Change in Plan Assets
Fair value of plan assets at beginning of year	$	212	$	213
Actual return on assets	(28)		10
Plan settlements	(1)		(1)
Acquisitions/Divestitures	—		(3)
Effect of exchange rate changes	(5)		(7)
Employer contributions	15		15
Participant contributions	4		4
Benefits paid	(15)		(19)
Fair value of plan assets at end of year	$	182	$	212

Funded status at end of year	$	(258)	$	(407)

The amounts recognized in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets, net of tax effects, were as follows:


	Location In The	Year Ended December 31,
(in millions)	Consolidated Balance Sheets	2022		2021

Other noncurrent assets, net	Other noncurrent assets	$	9	$	2
Deferred tax asset	Other noncurrent assets	6		36
Total assets		$	15	$	38

Current liabilities	Accrued liabilities	(10)		(9)
Other noncurrent liabilities	Other noncurrent liabilities	(257)		(400)
Deferred tax liability	Deferred income taxes	(5)		(1)
Total liabilities		$	(272)	$	(410)

Accumulated other comprehensive income	Accumulated other comprehensive loss	7		105
Net amount recognized		$	(250)	$	(267)

Information for pension plans with a projected or accumulated benefit obligation in excess of plan assets were as follows:


	Year Ended December 31,
(in millions)	2022		2021

Projected benefit obligation	$	283	$	427
Accumulated benefit obligation	272		403
Fair value of plan assets	15		17


	Year Ended December 31,						Location in Consolidated
(in millions)	2022		2021		2020		Statements of Operations

Service cost	$	5	$	7	$	6	Cost of products sold
Service cost	7		10		10		Selling, general and administrative expenses
Interest cost	5		3		5		Other expense (income), net
Expected return on plan assets	(4)		(4)		(4)		Other expense (income), net

Amortization of prior service credit	(1)		(1)		(1)		Other expense (income), net
Amortization of net actuarial loss	8		12		9		Other expense (income), net
Acquisitions/Divestitures	—		1		—		Other expense (income), net
Curtailment and settlement gains	(1)		(1)		—		Other expense (income), net

Net periodic benefit cost	$	19	$	27	$	25


	Year Ended December 31,
(in millions)	2022		2021		2020

Net actuarial (gains) loss	$	(125)	$	(36)	$	43


Amortization	(7)		(11)		(9)
Total recognized in AOCI	$	(132)	$	(47)	$	34
Total recognized in net periodic benefit cost and AOCI	$	(113)	$	(20)	$	59


	Year Ended December 31,
	2022		2021		2020

Interest crediting rate	1.3	%	1.3	%	1.3	%
Discount rate	1.1	%	0.6	%	1.0	%
Expected return on plan assets	2.2	%	2.2	%	2.3	%
Rate of compensation increase	2.6	%	2.4	%	2.5	%
Measurement date	12/31/2022		12/31/2021		12/31/2020

To develop the assumptions for the expected long-term rate of return on assets, the Company considered the current level of expected returns on risk free investments (primarily U.S. government bonds), the historical level of the risk premium associated with the other asset classes in which the assets are invested and the expectations for future returns of each asset class. The expected return for each asset class was then weighted based on the target asset allocations to develop the assumptions for the expected long-term rate of return on assets.

The fair value of the Company’s pension plan assets at December 31, 2022 and 2021 are presented in the table below by asset category. Approximately 81% of the total plan assets are categorized as Level 1, and therefore, the values assigned to these pension assets are based on quoted prices available in active markets. For the other category levels, a description of the valuation is provided in Note 1, Significant Accounting Policies, under the “Fair Value Measurement” heading.


	December 31, 2022
(in millions)	Total		Level 1		Level 2		Level 3

Assets Category
Cash and cash equivalents	$	15	$	15	$	—	$	—
Equity securities:

International	49		49		—		—
Fixed income securities:
Fixed rate bonds (a)	67		67		—		—
Other types of investments:
Mutual funds (b)	17		17		—		—


Insurance contracts	24		—		—		24
Hedge funds	9		—		—		9
Real estate	1		—		—		1
Total	$	182	$	148	$	—	$	34


	December 31, 2021
(in millions)	Total		Level 1		Level 2		Level 3

Assets Category
Cash and cash equivalents	$	17	$	17	$	—	$	—
Equity securities:

International	65		65		—		—
Fixed income securities:
Fixed rate bonds (a)	66		66		—		—
Other types of investments:
Mutual funds (b)	18		18		—		—


Insurance contracts	34		—		—		34
Hedge funds	11		—		—		11
Real estate	1		—		—		1
Total	$	212	$	166	$	—	$	46

A reconciliation from December 31, 2020 to December 31, 2022 for the plan assets categorized as Level 3 were as follows:


	December 31, 2022
(in millions)	Insurance Contracts		Hedge Funds		Real Estate		Total

Balance at December 31, 2021	$	34	$	11	$	1	$	46
Actual return on plan assets:
Relating to assets still held at the reporting date	(5)		(1)		—		(6)


Purchases, sales and settlements, net	(2)		(1)		—		(3)

Effect of exchange rate changes	(3)		—		—		(3)
Balance at December 31, 2022	$	24	$	9	$	1	$	34


	December 31, 2021
(in millions)	Insurance Contracts		Hedge Funds		Real Estate		Total

Balance at December 31, 2020	$	37	$	12	$	—	$	49
Actual return on plan assets:
Relating to assets still held at the reporting date	(2)		1		1		—


Purchases, sales and settlements, net	(1)		(2)		—		(3)
Transfers in and/or out	2		—		—		2
Effect of exchange rate changes	(2)		—		—		(2)
Balance at December 31, 2021	$	34	$	11	$	1	$	46