A mobile dental unit having a housing of a tabletop height and having a width which is less than the height, the housing on a narrow side being provided with a plurality of side-by-side storage receptacles for dental handpieces, each of the dental handpieces having the supply hose extending through the receptacle to a source with take up devices for each of the supply hoses characterized by the receptacles of the handpiece being arranged in two separate rows with the first row containing primary dental handpieces and the second row containing receptacles for secondarily used handpieces, the first row of receptacles being disposed adjacent the top of the housing and the second row being disposed beneath the first row, a guide pulley for each of the receptacles of the first row being supported adjacent the receptacle and immediately below the top of the housing and the take up devices for each of the supply hoses of the first row including means for retracting the supply hoses into the housing when the handpieces are not in use. The first row of receptacles is movable either by pivoting from a storage position to a working position or can be slid from a withdrawn storage position in the housing to an exposed working position. The second row of receptacles is mounted in the housing for pivoting between the storage and working position. In one embodiment of the invention, a coupling member is provided so that both rows pivot simultaneously between the working and storage position.