When it comes to taking medication, one size doesn’t always fit all. While you’re likely familiar with capsules and tablets, you may not be aware of a custom compounded dosage form called a troche. This special form of medication can be a great option for people who have trouble swallowing pills or need a medication that absorbs differently in the body.In this fact sheet, we’ll explore:
What Is a Capsule?
You’re probably familiar with capsules as a standard medication form. They’re often used for antibiotics, vitamins, and many other prescriptions. A capsule consists of a hard outer shell that contains a powdered medicine. When you swallow a capsule, it travels to your stomach, where the outer casing breaks down, releasing the medication to be absorbed into the bloodstream from your upper intestine.
What Is a Troche?
A troche is a solid dosage form similar to a lozenge or a tablet. However, unlike a standard tablet, a troche is made with a waxy base. This unique composition allows it to be either swallowed whole like a pill or, more commonly, dissolved in the mouth.
How Do Troches Work?
The key difference between a troche and a capsule lies in how the body absorbs the medication. While capsules are absorbed through the digestive system, a troche is designed to dissolve in the “buccal cavity”—the area between your teeth and gums.
When a troche dissolves, the medication is absorbed directly into the bloodstream through the lining of the mouth, bypassing the digestive system and liver. For certain medications, such as some hormone replacement therapies, this can be a more effective way to deliver the active ingredients. This method of absorption, known as buccal absorption, can lead to a more efficient and consistent therapeutic effect.
Why Choose a Compounded Troche?
Compounding pharmacies excel at creating custom medication forms to meet individual patient needs. The choice between a capsule and a troche is a great example of this. A compounding pharmacist works closely with your doctor to determine the best dosage form and formulation for you, considering factors like:
- Your ability to swallow pills.
- The specific medication and how it is best absorbed.
- Potential side effects and therapeutic goals.
While a compounded medication may sometimes have a different cost than a standard prescription, the benefit of a product that works better for you can often outweigh any difference in price. If you have questions about the best dosage form for your medication, a compounding pharmacist can provide expert guidance.
For more information on the efficacy of troches for certain medications like hormone replacement therapy, you can review medical literature, such as studies on the bioavailability of buccal formulations.
Video Transcript
Obviously capsules have been around for a long time and you might be familiar with them getting things like antibiotics from your doctor through a normal pharmacy. They’re often in a tablet or a capsule shape. So a capsule is basically a hard outer case containing the powders inside. It’s made in machines. We have small machines here that compound capsules. The powder goes inside, it’s compressed, the lid’s closed, so it’s clicked nice and tight. This is quite different from a troche. So a troche is actually a solid dosage form, more like a tablet, but it contains a bit of a waxy base. Now the waxy base means you can swallow it whole like a tablet, or you can actually dissolve it in what we call the buccal cavity. So that’s between the teeth and the gum. And the cool thing about that is when you dissolve a product that way, it actually gets absorbed in the body slightly differently to what a tablet would. A tablet or a capsule goes into your stomach. It’s broken down and absorbed in the upper intestine. However, if you take a troche in some situations like hormone replacement therapy, it actually absorbs between your cheek and gum. That means it gets into your body differently to those other ones I just spoke about. And it can generally with certain types of ingredients or drugs can work more effectively. So it’s one of those, um, really good opportunities that compounding pharmacies have to provide a medicine in a different dosage form. Obviously, the suitability of the the capsule or the troche is something that compounding pharmacists spend a lot of time becoming knowledgeable and experienced on. And then we work really closely with your doctor to make sure that the best dosage form is chosen to make the product that will work best for you. Keep in mind that the different absorption will mean different effects. So it’s one of those things we do have to work through takes a little bit more time than your regular pharmacy, but at the end of the day, if there are any cost differences, the benefit of having a product that works and works well can often outweigh any slight costs. So if you’ve got any dosage form questions, feel free to call our team. But we can certainly help customise a product for you.
