What is it?
Orodispersible tablets, also known as mouth-dissolving tablets, are tablets that disintegrate rapidly in the oral cavity within seconds, usually without the need for water or chewing. They are designed in such a way that they disintegrate or dissolve in the mouth within a few seconds when placed on the tongue. This allows patients who have difficulty in swallowing regular tablets or capsule dosage forms to easily take their medication.

Tablet manufacturing process
The manufacturing process of mouth-dissolving tablets differs from traditional compressed tablet manufacturing process. The ingredients used include superdisintegrants like crospovidone or sodium starch glycolate in higher quantities compared to regular Orodispersible tablets. The active pharmaceutical ingredient along with these superdisintegrants and other excipients are mixed uniformly. The blended mixture is then compressed into tablets using special compression forces and punched into tablet shapes. Subsequent coating can be done to disguise any unpleasant taste if required. Proper blending is critical to obtain uniform and rapid dispersibility of the tablet.

Advantages over regular tablets
Mouth-dissolving tablets offer several advantages over conventional tablets for various patient groups:
- Easy to administer: They dissolve rapidly in the oral cavity, eliminating the need to swallow tablets with water for patients who have dysphagia or difficulty in swallowing. This makes medication compliance very easy for elderly patients and children.
- Rapid onset of action: Since they dissolve/disintegrate in the oral cavity quickly, the active ingredients are absorbed through buccal mucosa and sublingual blood vessels leading to a faster onset of therapeutic action compared to ingestion.
- Alternative for swallowing difficulties: Patients with dysphagia due to conditions like stroke, Parkinson's disease can easily take mouth-dissolving tablets rather than regular dosage forms.
- Acceptability for pediatric patients: Orodispersible tablets are preferred over syrups for children as they are easier to administer and carry. It also helps in maintaining accurate dosing.
- Improved solubility: For drugs that have poor solubility, disintegration of the tablet permits the active ingredient to dissolve rapidly leading to increased bioavailability.
- Pleasant taste: Drugs with unpleasant or bitter taste can be formulated into mouth-dissolving tablets and the coating masks the bad taste. Sugar based coatings provide a pleasant sweet taste.

Applications in different therapeutic areas
Due to these advantages, mouth-dissolving tablets have huge potential for medications in different disease conditions where rapid onset or ease of administration plays a crucial role:

Acute conditions:
- Pain relief tablets like analgesics, paracetamol dissolve fast providing immediate relief from headaches, etc.
- Cough and cold preparations dissolve rapidly to provide timely relief from symptoms.

Pediatrics:
- Antibiotics, antipyretics in pediatric formulations are preferred in mouth-dissolving tablets form instead of syrups for easy dosing.
- Iron supplements, folic acid supplements are available in mouth dissolving forms for children.

Geriatrics:
- Anti-hypertensive drugs with a rapid onset of action like nitroglycerin are preferred in this format.
- Anti-Parkinson's drugs for immediate relief from symptoms on awakening.
- Supplements containing vitamins, minerals, calcium can be easily administered to bed-ridden or dependent elderly patients.

Mental illnesses:
- Anti-anxiety drugs that work fast through sublingual absorption help in panic attacks.
- Anti-depressants that show early improvement in mood and symptoms.

Drawbacks and challenges
While orodispersible tablets are extremely beneficial for certain patient groups, they also have some drawbacks:

- Expensive to manufacture: The specialized manufacturing process and additional cost of super disintegrants make them more expensive than regular compressed tablets.
- Stability issues: They have more stability issues compared to compressed tablets due to higher porosity and rapid disintegration properties. Special environmental conditions are required during storage.
- Lack of sharpness: Due to soft texture, shape after compression tends to be less defined or rounded edges compared to regular tablets.
- Bitter drugs: Masking bitter taste of active ingredients continues to be a challenge.

Conclusion
Despite some limitations, orodispersible tablets represent a major breakthrough in dosage form design, offering ease of dosing and administration to a variety of patient populations. Further research in enhancing stability and taste masking can help maximize the benefits of this innovative dosage form, potentially expanding its applications in the treatment of myriad acute and chronic health conditions. When formulated properly using suitable excipients, mouth-dissolving tablets present a patient-centric solution for improving medication adherence.