A Manufacturer and Marketer of Practice Management Products

    ST. PAUL, Minn., Feb. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Patterson Dental Company
(Nasdaq: PDCO) today announced it has acquired Professional Business Systems,
Inc. (PBS), a manufacturer and distributor of filing systems and other
practice management systems selling both directly to healthcare providers and
wholesale to healthcare distributors.  The company is based in Roselle, Ill.
The acquisition adds $11 million to Patterson's sales base.  Terms of the
transaction, which were accounted for as a pooling of interest, were not
disclosed.
    "This is an important acquisition for Patterson, specifically in terms of
building our presence in the medical market, and increasing sales volume of
practice management products," said Peter Frechette, chairman, president and
chief executive officer at Patterson.  "This acquisition will help us expand
our office-based medical business and better service the large healthcare
buying groups."
    Patterson Dental Company is one of the largest distributors of dental
products in North America.  The company supplies more than 82,500 products to
dentists, dental laboratories, institutions, physicians and other healthcare
providers.  These products include x-ray film, impression and restorative
materials, hand instruments, sterilization products, front office forms and
stationery as well as capital equipment.  Patterson markets its products and
services through more than 900 sales representatives and equipment specialists
in the United States and Canada.
    This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined in the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Forward-looking statements
involve risks and uncertainties which are beyond the company's ability to
control and in many cases the company cannot predict what factors may cause
actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-
looking statements.  These factors may include, among others: competition
within the dental supply industry; changes in the economics of dentistry,
including reduced growth in expenditures by private dental insurance plans and
the effects of healthcare reform, which may affect future per capita
expenditures for dental services and the ability of dentists to invest in or
obtain reimbursement for the use of high-technology products; the ability of
the company to maintain satisfactory relationships with its sales force; the
effects of economic conditions; unforeseen operating risks; risks associated
with the dependence on manufacturers of the company's products; and the
availability of capital to finance planned growth.  These risks are qualified
in their entirety by cautionary language set forth in the company's Form 10-K
report filed July 16, 1998, and other documents filed with Securities and
Exchange Commission.

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