MOUTH DISSOLVING TABLETS: A FUTURE COMPACTION

An orally disintegrating tablet or mouth dissolving tablet (MDT) is a drug dosage form available for a limited amount of over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription medications. MDTs differ from traditional tablets in that they are designed to be dissolved on the tongue rather than swallowed whole. A variety of pharmaceutical research has been conducted to develop new dosage forms. Among the dosage forms developed to facilitate ease of medication, the mouth dissolving tablet (MDT) is one of the most widely employed commercial products. As our society is becoming increasingly aged, the development of mouth dissolving tablets have been formulated for pediatric, geriatric, and bedridden patients and for active patients who are busy and travelling and may not have access to water. Such formulations provide an opportunity for product line extension in the many elderly persons will have difficulties in taking conventional oral dosage forms (viz., solutions, suspensions, tablets, and capsules) because of hand tremors and dysphagia. Oral delivery is currently the gold standard in the pharmaceutical industry where it is regarded as the safest, most convenient and most economical method of drug delivery having the highest patient compliance. Recent development in fast disintegrating technology mainly works to improve the disintegration quality of these delicate dosage forms without affecting their integrity. This article focuses on the patented technologies available and the advances made so far in the field of fabrication of mouth dissolving tablets. Apart from the conventional methods of fabrication, this review also provides the detailed concept of some unique technologies like freeze drying, direct compression, spray drying, tablet molding, sublimation, fast dissolving films cotton candy process, along with their advantages and limitations.