Ashland introduces new ingredient for oral care product formulations

Personal care products ingredients manufacturer Ashland Specialty Ingredients has introduced a new Lubrajel BA hydrogel1 for oral care product formulations.

The new ingredient is a clathrate of glycerin and polyacrylate, which combines water by hydrogen bonding and Van der Waals forces.

According to the firm, the new ingredient contains 50% water by weight(w/w), which can be used in oral moisturising products to provide hydration, mucoadhesion and other beneficial properties, such as lubricity that relieves from mouth drying.

Ashland Specialty Ingredients’ oral care business global marketing manager Ann Druffner said as there is an increase in the use of medications globally, majority of people currently looking for artificial saliva products to address dryness in the oral cavity.

"Makers of oral care formulations are responding with a new generation of products designed to act as longer-lasting saliva substitutes," Druffner added.

"In supplying Lubrajel BA hydrogel, Ashland now provides a new ingredient to oral care formulators in their efforts to mimic natural saliva to provide improved mouth moisturization."

The firm said Lubrajel BA hydrogel exhibits shear-thinning properties, which resembles natural saliva that makes it suitable for oral moisturizing products.

Ashland said when studied by its scientists using Rheological measurements in model spray and mouth rinse formulations, the ingredient showed similar performance to natural saliva.

The ingredient used in oral moisturising spray formulations when studied in in-vitro showed higher mucoadhesion than natural saliva providing a long-lasting relief from mouth drying.