Emerging Trends in Buccal Drug Delivery: Focus on Oral Dissolving Film Technology

Buccal drug delivery systems have gained increasing attention as an alternative approach to conventional oral dosage forms. Oral dissolving films are thin, flexible, and mucoadhesive polymeric formulations designed to adhere to the buccal mucosa and deliver drugs either locally or systemically. This route provide several advantages such as avoidance of first-pass metabolism, high bioavailability, rapid onset of action, and enhanced patient compliance. Oral dissolving films are especially useful for drugs that undergo extensive hepatic metabolism or are unstable in the gastrointestinal environment. The formulation of Oral dissolving films involves the use of suitable polymers, plasticizers, sweeteners, saliva stimulants and other excipients that influence film properties such as flexibility, mechanical strength, and drug release property. Various preparation techniques including solvent casting, hot- melt extrusion, and semisolid casting methods are commonly used for their development. In addition, several evaluation parameters such as thickness, folding endurance, surface pH, swelling index, drug content uniformity, stability and in-vitro drug release are used to assess the quality of Oral dissolving films. This review highlights the structure of buccal mucosa, advantages, formulation, preparation methods, and evaluation techniques of Oral dissolving films as a promising drug delivery system.