Abstract

A drug can be administered via many different routes to produce a systemic pharmacologic effect. The most common method of drug administration is via the peroral route, in which the drug is swallowed and enters the systemic circulation primarily through the membranes of the small intestine. Although this type of drug administration is commonly termed oral, peroral is a better term because oral administration more accurately describes drug absorption from the mouth itself. The mouth is lined with a mucous membrane and among the least known of its functions is its capability of serving as a site for the absorption of drugs (1). In general, drugs penetrate the mucous membrane by simple diffusion and are carried in the blood, which richly supplies the salivary glands and their ducts, into the systemic circulation via the jugular vein. Active transport, pinocytosis, and passage through aqueous pores usually play only insignificant roles in moving drugs across the oral mucosa (2). 1

The administration of drugs by the buccal route has several main advantages over peroral administration, including the following.

The drug is not subjected to the destructive acidic environment of the stomach.

Therapeutic serum concentrations of the drug can be achieved more rapidly.