# Sublingual administration - will any mucous membrane do?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sublingual-administration-will-any-mucous-membrane-do/626834>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 30, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sublingual-administration-will-any-mucous-membrane-do/626834 "2012-06-30T18:51:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Simple\_Linctus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Simple\_Linctus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Linctus)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sublingual-administration-will-any-mucous-membrane-do/626834/1 "2012-06-30T18:51:45Z")

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I note that according to wikipedia sub-lingual administration works by contact with the mucous membrane under the tongue. Could you also administer these drugs with more or less equivalent bioavaliability to using the under the tongue approach by using other mucous membranes (particularly intimate ones)?

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**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sublingual-administration-will-any-mucous-membrane-do/626834/2 "2012-06-30T18:54:36Z")

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Isn’t that how suppositories are supposed to work?

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**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sublingual-administration-will-any-mucous-membrane-do/626834/3 "2012-06-30T19:17:06Z")

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Yeah, suppositories and such. It’s also how snorting cocaine works. But if it’s not under the tongue, then it’s not sublingual because “lingual” means…?