Trident (gum)

Trident (gum)

Trident is a brand of sugarless chewing gum popular in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Greece, Guyana, Spain, Mexico, Portugal, Venezuela, Morocco, Thailand, Peru, Brazil, Ecuador and in Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay & Uruguay as 'Beldent'. It was introduced by Cadbury in the United Kingdom. In European countries (Scandinavia, Netherlands, Germany, etc.), Trident is also sold as Stimorol gum; it is generally the same as Trident.

The Trident brand was the first national brand of sugar-free chewing gum. Developed by the American Chicle company in response to medical discoveries linking sugar to dental caries, the original Trident formula contained three enzymes thought to soften dental tartar, but was sugared. The name "Trident" derives from the three enzymes to promote dental health.

When artificial sweeteners became widespread in the early 1960s, the formula was changed to use saccharin instead of sugar, and Sugar-Free Trident was introduced in 1964 with the slogan "The Great Taste that Is Good for Your Teeth". American Chicle's marketing was one of the first national campaigns to promote dental health through chewing gum.

In the early 2000, a new slogan was introduced for Trident: "See what Unfolds".

The phrase is believed to have been based on the results of a survey of practicing dentists with either D.D.S. or D.M.D. degrees, apparently conducted in the early 1960s, whose patients included frequent users of chewing gums; the percentage of respondents to the survey whose responses indicated they would make such references to their patients is believed to have been approximately 80%, rounded off to the nearest full percentage point, of the total number of respondents. It became strongly associated with the Trident brand. As of the last days of May 2010, however, Kraft Foods's Cadbury Adams group was not known to have made any public disclosures of any details about the survey, presumably citing the proprietary nature of the survey data and conclusions as its rationale.

Trident gum contains the sugar alcohol xylitol, which is known as a "tooth-friendly" sugar. Use of the chemical has been subject to controversy, as it is highly toxic to dogs.