Pills and tablets are two types of medicine that are beneficial because they are easy to consume and come in appropriate dosages.
If a person is given specific power made of herbs, it would be challenging to decide the required amount, and it might taste horrible. Pills and tablets avoid such troubles and are now available at every place.
Key Takeaways
- Tablets are solid, compressed forms of medication, while pills can refer to any solid medication unit, including tablets and capsules.
- Tablets are flat or round and have a smooth or scored surface, while pills can vary in shape and size.
- Tablets can have a coating or be extended-release, while pills like capsules may have a shell containing the medication.
Tablet vs Pill
A tablet is a solid, flat dose of medication that is made by compressing a mixture of active ingredients and fillers into a precise shape and size. A pill is a small, round, or oval-shaped dose of medication that is coated with a smooth or glossy surface to be swallowed in whole.
A tablet is a mixture of excipients that are active and in the form of powder. This powder is then compacted to form OSD (oral dosage form).
Tablets are manufactured in the pharmaceutical industry in every country. A tablet is prepared by molding and compression procedure. That’s the reason tablets are also called molded tablets and compressed tablets.
A pill is a piece of medicine that people round and swallow. Pills are the opposite of capsules and primarily come in a circular shape.
The highest consumed pills around the world are known as birth control pills. Also, a pill is not necessarily made for medical purposes only. It can also be made of sugar to be enjoyed by people.
Comparison Table
| Parameters Of Comparison | Tablet | Pill |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | The invention of tablets goes far back to around 1500 BC in papyruses in ancient Egypt. | Pills were introduced to people in the late 1940’s by a chemist known as Dr. Carl Djerassi. |
| Shape | Tablets are long and flat, having a cylindrical or elliptical shape. | Pills are always in round shape, although their size can vary depending on the requirement. |
| Types | There are various types of tablets available in the market, for example, uncoated tablets, coated tablets, effervescent tablets, etc. | Pills have mainly two types that are combination pills and progestin-only pills. |
| Made of | In pharmaceuticals, tablets are made of excipients, powder of ingredients, required active substances, etc. | Pills are made of calabash chalk, also known as Argile. It absorbs the medicine quickly. |
| Usage | The common uses of tablets are relieving pain, healing wounds, treating diseases, and many more. | The uses of pills are regulating the menstrual cycle, reducing the risk of ovary cyst and uterine cancer, and many more. |
What is Tablet?
A tablet is a solid form of medicine taken from the mouth and then digested. IT is called solid dosage form and manufactured in every corner of the world.
Solid dosage forms of medicine are classified into two categories that are unit dose and bulk dose. Bulk dose includes external powder, internal powder, and just powder, whereas capsules, tablets, sachet, inhalers come in the unit dose category.
Tablets are manufactured by compressing and compacting the powder into a flat shape. This powder comprises active pharmaceutical ingredients to heal or treat diseases.
Tablets are taken orally, and that’s why they are also known as solid oral form. A tablet is prepared by adding various additives, for instance, glidants, binders, diluents, lubricants, disintegrating agents, and many types of coating materials.
Other ingredients for adding sweetness, flavor, and color are also permitted if required. Tablets are taken with the help of some type of liquid such as milk or water. Other formats of administering a tablet are chew, swallow, dispersed in water, dissolved, etc.
There are two major types of tablets; coated and uncoated. Uncoated tablets are also called core tablets and are consumed rapidly for disintegration in the gastric fluid. Coated tablets, on the other hand, have thin layers of polymers.
What is Pill?
Pills are also solid dosage forms of medicine that come in round shape. Pills are small and made of a variety of ingredients.
A pill can be associated with any field, and it is not definite that pills are made of pharmaceutical ingredients. It can be prepared from cane sugar and milk sugar.
Pills are available in a wide range of types, and the most common type consumed is birth control pills. Birth control pills are taken by females to avoid unwanted pregnancy.
The birth control pill contains hormones and diverts the generalized functionality of the body. The hormones in the birth control pills are chemical substances that control the uterus and ovaries.
Birth control pills are full of progesterone and estrogen hormones, and sometimes a mixture of both. These hormones are responsible for the ovulation procedure. Hence, the ovulation procedure is interrupted, and then there is no egg to fertilize.
Birth control pills use another method to prevent pregnancy: to thicken the mucus of the cervix and make it difficult for sperm to attach. In this method, sperm never reaches the egg.
These pills are very affecting medium to prevent pregnancy. But the studies show that 9 out of 100 couples can have an accidental pregnancy.
Main Differences Between Tablet and Pill
- The main feature of a tablet is that it contains an accurate dose of drugs. On the other hand, the pill contains different types of hormones.
- Tablets are administered to treat wounds, pain, diseases a person is suffering from. On the other hand, Pills are taken by females for conditions related to ovaries and uterine.
- Tablets come with the measured amount of drugs, and they can be broken into half, whereas pills are small and can not be broken into half.
- Tablets are made of compressed powder of ingredients required to treat the diseases. On the other hand, the liquid extracted from ingredients is added to the pills.
- The shape of tablets is cylindrical or elliptical; they are more extensive than pills. On the other hand, pills are always round.
- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/adma.201504122
- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10810730150501413
Last Updated : 20 July, 2023
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Sandeep Bhandari holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computers from Thapar University (2006). He has 20 years of experience in the technology field. He has a keen interest in various technical fields, including database systems, computer networks, and programming. You can read more about him on his bio page.
