Here at Troscriptions, we use one of the most amazing drug/supplement delivery devices on the planet: the buccal troche (pronounced Troh-key). 

A buccal troche is a small lozenge that dissolves between your upper cheek and gums. You don’t suck them. You don’t swallow them. And you don’t chew them. Instead, you let them dissolve directly into your cheek mucosa for rapid onset (more on this later). 

Dr. Ted and the physicians on the Tro Team have used buccal troches for many years in their clinical practices for drugs like oxytocin, ketamine, hormone replacement, and more. While developing Troscriptions, buccal troches were the obvious choice for making amazing products that were precision dosed, pharmaceutical grade, and physician formulated. Plus, they could make it fun!

Read on and #buccalup to learn more!

Buccal Troche History (Heroin anyone?) 

The earliest precursor to lozenges dates back to as early as 1000 BC in Egypt. These ancient cough drop candies were made from honey, herbs, and other spices to help soothe the throat. During the 19th century, heroin and morphine (yes, you heard that right!) were added to these lozenges to suppress coughing. Since then, there have been many evolutions of the lozenge, including the famed Swiss selling Ricola to the masses (while yodeling).

Troches were developed from lozenges in the 20th century for more rapid onset and to allow for more precise/reliable dosing. This is what makes them the crown jewel of the lozenge world (at least in our opinion)! 

Don’t Swallow Your Drugs! (If there’s a buccal troche for it.)

When you swallow your supplements or drugs, they are digested in the stomach and small intestine, absorbed through the lining of the gut, and then pass through the liver in a process called first-pass metabolism. ⁠

First of all, this process takes a while. For most people, this will take at least 30 minutes but can be delayed up to 2 hours. If you’ve ever had cannabis edibles, decided to take more because you "didn't feel anything," and then had quite a ride, you know what we mean!

Second of all, when the liver processes the compounds, it can make them less active (most common), leave the compound unchanged, or make it more active (least common). This is what is referred to as compound bioavailability (i.e., how much of the compound is active after first-pass metabolism). 

Buccal troches, in contrast, directly infuse the ingredients of the troche into your bloodstream via the cheek mucosa. This bypassing of first-pass metabolism means that you’ll have a reliable action onset of 15 to 30 minutesandnone of the troche ingredients will lose their potency. 

Plus, as an added bonus, troche ingredients have a quick path to the brain given its close proximity. This is amazing for nootropics that turn your brain on and just as awesome for troches that relax you, decrease pain, help you sleep, and more. 

At this point, you might be asking yourself: these buccal troches sound like kind of a big deal but how rapid-acting are they really? Well, we're glad you asked! In a study on the antipsychotic drug asenapine, half of the drug concentration was absorbed through the buccal mucosa in just 52 seconds [1]. Wow, that’s fast! 

Actual absorption rate will depend on the molecular structure and size of the compounds alongside their water solubility, but the good news is that all troches at Troscriptions have been optimized on both fronts for maximum absorption as fast as possible.

Key Benefits of Using A Buccal Troche

We’ve already discussed several, but because most of you won’t read this full article and will look for the bullets (go back and read our mediocre yodeling joke from earlier if you are skimming), you can find them below.

Buccal troches:

• Are easy to use (just park it in your mouth and let it dissolve)
• Bypass first-pass metabolism, preserving bioavailability 
• Have rapid onset 
• Have a direct route to the brain via cheek mucosa 

At Troscriptions, our troches are also:

• Precision dosed 
• Pharmaceutical Grade
• Physician formulated 
• Made in a GMP facility 
• Scored into quarters 

Scored into quarters?

Each buccal troche is scored so it can be easily cut into four individual doses. This is essential for dosing and titration. Often the mantra with any supplement or medication is to start slow and titrate up until you reach your optimal dose. This is the case with troches too and it's easy to do because they are scored!

How To Use Your Buccal Troche? 

When you’re ready to #buccalup, here are the 5 easy steps to optimize the experience:

1. Decide on your starting dose and cut the troche with a knife or pill cutter to start there. We suggest you do not use your hands (or teeth!).
2. Place the troche between your gum and upper cheek. Park it there and try not to move it around too much... unless you are modeling for Instagram (#fullsmurf). 
3. Let it fully dissolve.
4. Feel the troche start doing its magic in 15 to 30 minutes.
5. Enjoy the ride for 3 to 5 hours. 

Tro-scriptions

Our company name is a mashup of the words troche and prescriptions. Now you know why we love troches so much. In addition, we also ensure that all of our troches are as close to prescription grade as possible.

Blue Cannatine, our flagship nootropic, contains a carefully crafted combination of methylene blue, hemp extract, caffeine, and nicotine. Most Blue Cannatine users (or smurfs, as we affectionately call them) use a ½ troche for their optimal dose. This dose launches them into flow with a massive increase in productivity, focus, memory, and verbal fluidity. 

Just Blue, our pure 16 mg methylene blue troche is our mitochondrial optimizer, improving energy production and protecting cells from damage. Like Blue Cannatine, it is also easily titrated from as little as a quarter to a full troche with most Just Blue users using ½ troche at a time as well.

There is one more unique benefit to our troches... the beneficial side effect of a brilliantly colored tongue. Blue Cannatine and Just Blue both have methylene blue which will color your tongue blue (#blueyourself). It’s part of the fun and enhances the effect.

If anyone happens to ask you why you have a blue tongue, the polite retort is as follows: “Didn’t you know that Blue is the New Smart?”

More colorful and massively therapeutic buccal troches are on their way too, so #buccalup! 

Written by the Tro Team

References

1. Bartlett, J. A., & van der Voort Maarschalk, K. (2012). Understanding the oral mucosal absorption and resulting clinical pharmacokinetics of asenapine.AAPS PharmSciTech,13(4), 1110–1115.https://doi.org/10.1208/s12249-012-9839-7