Trident: The Complete UK Guide to the Gum That 4 Out of 5 Dentists Recommend
Trident: The Complete UK Guide to the Gum That 4 Out of 5 Dentists Recommend
In July 1976, Warner-Lambert, the company behind Trident, commissioned a survey of 1,200 practising dentists and asked what they recommended to patients who chewed gum. 85 percent said sugarless. The advertising rounded that down to four out of five and built one of the most famous advertising slogans in history: 'Four out of five dentists surveyed recommend sugarless gum for their patients who chew gum.' The gum was Trident. The slogan ran for decades, became a cultural shorthand, and has been parodied, referenced and riffed on in advertising, television and everyday speech ever since.
Trident did not just launch a product. It launched a category — the dental health case for chewing gum — and built the brand's entire identity around that proposition. A gum that was good for you. A gum that dentists approved. A gum that had marketing embedded directly in its name.
The name Trident is not arbitrary. The 'Tri' prefix references three — according to the company, three ingredients that help prevent tartar forming on teeth. The 'dent' part is a reference to dentists. The brand name was a marketing claim before the advertising even started.
The American Chicle Company introduced the original Trident in 1960, developed specifically in response to growing awareness of the relationship between sugar and dental decay. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, sugar was attracting increasing scientific scrutiny as a cause of tooth decay, and the food industry was beginning to respond with sugar-free alternatives. American Chicle positioned Trident directly in this space — not just as a gum without sugar, but as a gum that actively supported dental health. It was sugarless from the start, sold as the first nationally distributed sugarless gum in the US, and by 1964 it was being advertised with the slogan 'The Great Taste that Is Good for Your Teeth.' The 'four out of five dentists' line came in the 1970s.
Trident's own history puts it aboard NASA's Gemini programme in 1964, four years after launch. The reasoning was practical: astronauts needed a way to maintain oral hygiene during missions where conventional toothbrushing was difficult, and Trident's dental health positioning made it the obvious choice. By the brand's account, Trident became the first chewing gum in space.
This was not a one-off. Trident has long been associated with the American space programme, an association the brand has maintained carefully and one that gives it a heritage claim very few confectionery products can match. A gum designed in 1960 to be good for your teeth, accompanying astronauts into orbit, is a story that sells itself.
Television advertising launched in the 1970s pushed sales sharply through that decade — the 'four out of five dentists' line running through those ads and building the brand recognition that would carry it through multiple ownership changes over the following decades. By the late 1970s, Trident was the best-selling sugarless gum on the market.
The 'four out of five dentists' line did not just sell gum. It became one of the most parodied advertising claims in the history of commercial television — a phrase so embedded in popular culture that it has been referenced, riffed on and adapted by comedians, writers and advertisers for five decades.
The survey behind the slogan was real. Warner-Lambert commissioned a market research firm in July 1976 to ask 1,200 practising dentists what they recommended to patients who chewed gum — sugared gum, sugarless gum, or no gum at all. Sugarless gum won with 85 per cent, which the advertising rounded down to four out of five. A frequently repeated detail is that the famous 'fifth dentist' who did not recommend the sugarless option was not recommending rival sugared gum — he was recommending no gum at all. The distinction was not one the advertising dwelt on.
The format gave its structure to countless parodies, and eventually to a UK institution: Channel 4's long-running panel show 8 Out of 10 Cats takes its name from a pet-food advertising claim built on the same survey-statistic format. Trident eventually turned the joke on itself, running an advert that asked directly what the fifth dentist's problem was — an acknowledgement that the slogan had become bigger than any single advertisement could contain.
Trident's corporate history is one of the more travelled in American candy. American Chicle was acquired by Warner-Lambert in 1962, who sold the Adams confectionery division (including Trident) to Pfizer in 2000. Pfizer sold Adams to Cadbury Schweppes in 2002. Kraft acquired Cadbury in 2010, and when Kraft split into two companies in 2012, Trident became part of Mondelez International. In 2023, Mondelez sold its gum portfolio in North America and Europe to Perfetti Van Melle — the Italian-Dutch confectionery company also behind Mentos and Chupa Chups. Trident is now a Perfetti Van Melle brand.
The UK is a relatively recent market for Trident. The brand arrived here in 2007 when Cadbury Schweppes introduced it, and has been available since. For many UK customers, Trident is a discovery — a brand they encountered during travel in the United States or through American candy retailers — rather than a fixture of the British confectionery landscape.
The Trident range at Sweet and Glory comes in 31g packs. The classics — Spearmint, Original, Perfect Peppermint, White Peppermint, Wintergreen and Cinnamon — represent the core Trident that has existed in various forms since the 1960s. The fruit flavours — Watermelon Twist, Tropical Twist, Pineapple Twist and Island Berry Lime — reflect the brand's expansion into the flavoured gum category. Mint Sweet Twist, Mint Bliss and Bubblegum round out the range.
The dental health story sells itself. Trident's entire brand identity is built around being the gum that is good for your teeth. Customers who are already aware of this — and many are, particularly those who have encountered the brand in the US — are pre-sold on the proposition. For new customers, the story is a conversation starter: the gum that went to space, the gum with the famous dentist endorsement.
Sugar-free is a growing category. The demand for sugar-free confectionery has been growing consistently as consumers pay more attention to sugar intake. Trident has been sugar-free since its launch in 1960 — it is not a response to a trend but a brand built on the premise that sugar-free gum is better gum. Paired alongside Ice Breakers — another premium American sugar-free mint brand — Trident gives retailers a strong sugar-free section with genuine American heritage behind it. See the complete gum and bubblegum guide for the broader American gum category context.
The complete Trident range is available wholesale at Sweet and Glory. Browse the full candy range for the complete American confectionery selection. Create a free account to browse and order.
No minimum order. Free first parcel on orders over £150 ex VAT (additional boxes £7.10 each). Free pallet delivery over £650 ex VAT. Dispatched from Manchester.
What does the fifth dentist recommend? No gum at all. The survey asked dentists what they would recommend to patients who already chewed gum — sugared, sugarless, or none — so the holdout was not backing a rival product. He was advising people to stop chewing entirely, which is arguably the most complete dental advice of the lot. Trident understandably chose not to build a campaign around that.
Why is it called Trident? Because the name is the marketing claim. According to the company, the tri refers to three ingredients that help prevent tartar forming on teeth, and the dent refers to dentists. The brand was making its case before a single advertisement ran.
Was Trident really the first chewing gum in space? That is the brand's own claim: Trident says it travelled with NASA's Gemini programme in 1964, four years after it launched. The reasoning was practical rather than promotional — conventional toothbrushing is difficult in orbit, and a gum positioned around dental health was the obvious answer.
Is Trident sugar-free? It has been since it launched in 1960, which makes it one of the earliest sugar-free confectionery products rather than a response to any recent trend. The brand was built on the premise that sugar-free gum is better gum, at a point when the link between sugar and tooth decay was only beginning to attract serious scientific attention.
When was Trident gum invented, and where? The American Chicle Company introduced the original Trident in 1960, in the United States. It was developed deliberately rather than stumbled upon — sugar was coming under scientific scrutiny as a cause of tooth decay through the late 1950s, and American Chicle set out to build a gum positioned against that. It was sugarless from day one, and by the brand's account it went aboard NASA's Gemini programme in 1964. It remains an American-born brand, now owned by Perfetti Van Melle and produced for markets worldwide.
Is Trident gum good for your teeth? The famous slogan is more carefully worded than most people remember. It was never a claim that chewing gum is good for you — the survey asked 1,200 dentists in July 1976 what they recommended to patients who already chewed gum, and 85 per cent said sugarless rather than sugared. The answer was about choosing between gums, not about whether to chew one. The brand's earlier line, "The Great Taste that Is Good for Your Teeth", was the bolder claim, and it belongs to 1964 rather than to today. For anything specific about dental health, a dentist is the right source rather than a sweet wholesaler.
Who makes Trident now? Perfetti Van Melle, the Italian-Dutch company behind Mentos and Chupa Chups, which bought the North American and European gum portfolio from Mondelez in 2023. Before that the brand passed through American Chicle, Warner-Lambert, Pfizer, Cadbury Schweppes, Kraft and Mondelez — one of the more travelled ownership histories in American confectionery.
Related guides: Bubblegum: the complete guide · Best novelty sweets UK · Fun Dip: the complete UK guide · Most popular American sweets UK
Sources
Trident, brand history timeline (tridentgum.com)
The Straight Dope, Cecil Adams - the 1976 Warner-Lambert dentist survey
Mondelez International - completion of the sale of its developed-market gum business to Perfetti Van Melle, 2023
Written by Sharon Wilson, Sweet and Glory. Sweet and Glory has imported American and world confectionery into the UK from Trafford Park, Manchester, since 2015.
In July 1976, Warner-Lambert, the company behind Trident, commissioned a survey of 1,200 practising dentists and asked what they recommended to patients who chewed gum. 85 percent said sugarless. The advertising rounded that down to four out of five and built one of the most famous advertising slogans in history: 'Four out of five dentists surveyed recommend sugarless gum for their patients who chew gum.' The gum was Trident. The slogan ran for decades, became a cultural shorthand, and has been parodied, referenced and riffed on in advertising, television and everyday speech ever since.
Trident did not just launch a product. It launched a category — the dental health case for chewing gum — and built the brand's entire identity around that proposition. A gum that was good for you. A gum that dentists approved. A gum that had marketing embedded directly in its name.
The Name Is a Claim
The name Trident is not arbitrary. The 'Tri' prefix references three — according to the company, three ingredients that help prevent tartar forming on teeth. The 'dent' part is a reference to dentists. The brand name was a marketing claim before the advertising even started.
The American Chicle Company introduced the original Trident in 1960, developed specifically in response to growing awareness of the relationship between sugar and dental decay. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, sugar was attracting increasing scientific scrutiny as a cause of tooth decay, and the food industry was beginning to respond with sugar-free alternatives. American Chicle positioned Trident directly in this space — not just as a gum without sugar, but as a gum that actively supported dental health. It was sugarless from the start, sold as the first nationally distributed sugarless gum in the US, and by 1964 it was being advertised with the slogan 'The Great Taste that Is Good for Your Teeth.' The 'four out of five dentists' line came in the 1970s.
First Gum in Space
Trident's own history puts it aboard NASA's Gemini programme in 1964, four years after launch. The reasoning was practical: astronauts needed a way to maintain oral hygiene during missions where conventional toothbrushing was difficult, and Trident's dental health positioning made it the obvious choice. By the brand's account, Trident became the first chewing gum in space.
This was not a one-off. Trident has long been associated with the American space programme, an association the brand has maintained carefully and one that gives it a heritage claim very few confectionery products can match. A gum designed in 1960 to be good for your teeth, accompanying astronauts into orbit, is a story that sells itself.
Television advertising launched in the 1970s pushed sales sharply through that decade — the 'four out of five dentists' line running through those ads and building the brand recognition that would carry it through multiple ownership changes over the following decades. By the late 1970s, Trident was the best-selling sugarless gum on the market.
The Slogan That Became a Cultural Institution
The 'four out of five dentists' line did not just sell gum. It became one of the most parodied advertising claims in the history of commercial television — a phrase so embedded in popular culture that it has been referenced, riffed on and adapted by comedians, writers and advertisers for five decades.
The survey behind the slogan was real. Warner-Lambert commissioned a market research firm in July 1976 to ask 1,200 practising dentists what they recommended to patients who chewed gum — sugared gum, sugarless gum, or no gum at all. Sugarless gum won with 85 per cent, which the advertising rounded down to four out of five. A frequently repeated detail is that the famous 'fifth dentist' who did not recommend the sugarless option was not recommending rival sugared gum — he was recommending no gum at all. The distinction was not one the advertising dwelt on.
The format gave its structure to countless parodies, and eventually to a UK institution: Channel 4's long-running panel show 8 Out of 10 Cats takes its name from a pet-food advertising claim built on the same survey-statistic format. Trident eventually turned the joke on itself, running an advert that asked directly what the fifth dentist's problem was — an acknowledgement that the slogan had become bigger than any single advertisement could contain.
Trident's corporate history is one of the more travelled in American candy. American Chicle was acquired by Warner-Lambert in 1962, who sold the Adams confectionery division (including Trident) to Pfizer in 2000. Pfizer sold Adams to Cadbury Schweppes in 2002. Kraft acquired Cadbury in 2010, and when Kraft split into two companies in 2012, Trident became part of Mondelez International. In 2023, Mondelez sold its gum portfolio in North America and Europe to Perfetti Van Melle — the Italian-Dutch confectionery company also behind Mentos and Chupa Chups. Trident is now a Perfetti Van Melle brand.
The UK is a relatively recent market for Trident. The brand arrived here in 2007 when Cadbury Schweppes introduced it, and has been available since. For many UK customers, Trident is a discovery — a brand they encountered during travel in the United States or through American candy retailers — rather than a fixture of the British confectionery landscape.
The Range at Sweet and Glory
The Trident range at Sweet and Glory comes in 31g packs. The classics — Spearmint, Original, Perfect Peppermint, White Peppermint, Wintergreen and Cinnamon — represent the core Trident that has existed in various forms since the 1960s. The fruit flavours — Watermelon Twist, Tropical Twist, Pineapple Twist and Island Berry Lime — reflect the brand's expansion into the flavoured gum category. Mint Sweet Twist, Mint Bliss and Bubblegum round out the range.
For Retailers: Positioning Trident in Your Range
The dental health story sells itself. Trident's entire brand identity is built around being the gum that is good for your teeth. Customers who are already aware of this — and many are, particularly those who have encountered the brand in the US — are pre-sold on the proposition. For new customers, the story is a conversation starter: the gum that went to space, the gum with the famous dentist endorsement.
Sugar-free is a growing category. The demand for sugar-free confectionery has been growing consistently as consumers pay more attention to sugar intake. Trident has been sugar-free since its launch in 1960 — it is not a response to a trend but a brand built on the premise that sugar-free gum is better gum. Paired alongside Ice Breakers — another premium American sugar-free mint brand — Trident gives retailers a strong sugar-free section with genuine American heritage behind it. See the complete gum and bubblegum guide for the broader American gum category context.
Shop Trident Wholesale in the UK
The complete Trident range is available wholesale at Sweet and Glory. Browse the full candy range for the complete American confectionery selection. Create a free account to browse and order.
No minimum order. Free first parcel on orders over £150 ex VAT (additional boxes £7.10 each). Free pallet delivery over £650 ex VAT. Dispatched from Manchester.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the fifth dentist recommend? No gum at all. The survey asked dentists what they would recommend to patients who already chewed gum — sugared, sugarless, or none — so the holdout was not backing a rival product. He was advising people to stop chewing entirely, which is arguably the most complete dental advice of the lot. Trident understandably chose not to build a campaign around that.
Why is it called Trident? Because the name is the marketing claim. According to the company, the tri refers to three ingredients that help prevent tartar forming on teeth, and the dent refers to dentists. The brand was making its case before a single advertisement ran.
Was Trident really the first chewing gum in space? That is the brand's own claim: Trident says it travelled with NASA's Gemini programme in 1964, four years after it launched. The reasoning was practical rather than promotional — conventional toothbrushing is difficult in orbit, and a gum positioned around dental health was the obvious answer.
Is Trident sugar-free? It has been since it launched in 1960, which makes it one of the earliest sugar-free confectionery products rather than a response to any recent trend. The brand was built on the premise that sugar-free gum is better gum, at a point when the link between sugar and tooth decay was only beginning to attract serious scientific attention.
When was Trident gum invented, and where? The American Chicle Company introduced the original Trident in 1960, in the United States. It was developed deliberately rather than stumbled upon — sugar was coming under scientific scrutiny as a cause of tooth decay through the late 1950s, and American Chicle set out to build a gum positioned against that. It was sugarless from day one, and by the brand's account it went aboard NASA's Gemini programme in 1964. It remains an American-born brand, now owned by Perfetti Van Melle and produced for markets worldwide.
Is Trident gum good for your teeth? The famous slogan is more carefully worded than most people remember. It was never a claim that chewing gum is good for you — the survey asked 1,200 dentists in July 1976 what they recommended to patients who already chewed gum, and 85 per cent said sugarless rather than sugared. The answer was about choosing between gums, not about whether to chew one. The brand's earlier line, "The Great Taste that Is Good for Your Teeth", was the bolder claim, and it belongs to 1964 rather than to today. For anything specific about dental health, a dentist is the right source rather than a sweet wholesaler.
Who makes Trident now? Perfetti Van Melle, the Italian-Dutch company behind Mentos and Chupa Chups, which bought the North American and European gum portfolio from Mondelez in 2023. Before that the brand passed through American Chicle, Warner-Lambert, Pfizer, Cadbury Schweppes, Kraft and Mondelez — one of the more travelled ownership histories in American confectionery.
Related guides: Bubblegum: the complete guide · Best novelty sweets UK · Fun Dip: the complete UK guide · Most popular American sweets UK
Sources
Trident, brand history timeline (tridentgum.com)
The Straight Dope, Cecil Adams - the 1976 Warner-Lambert dentist survey
Mondelez International - completion of the sale of its developed-market gum business to Perfetti Van Melle, 2023
Written by Sharon Wilson, Sweet and Glory. Sweet and Glory has imported American and world confectionery into the UK from Trafford Park, Manchester, since 2015.
