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General Information

This website showcases the ongoing progress and findings of SCHINOS, a project that is co‐financed by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union and Greek national funds through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, under the call RESEARCH – CREATE – INNOVATE (project code:T2EDK-00391).

Gingivitis is an inflammatory disease occurring in more than 50% of the worldwide population sometime during their lifetime. It is caused by the accumulation of bacteria in the oral cavity mainly due to non-thorough dental hygiene practices. Diagnosis and treatment of gingivitis is necessary to avoid its progression towards periodontitis, a pathological condition that is the leading cause of tooth loss.

The study aims to examine the effects of Chios Mastic on the oral microbiome and elucidate molecular mechanisms of the host immune response after administration, in patients with gingivitis or stage I periodontitis.

Chios Island location in Greece Chios Island location in Greece marked in red


Chios Mastic, the resin obtained from mastic trees (Pistacia lentiscus var. Chia), is a purely Greek Natural Product of excellent antimicrobial and therapeutic properties that is produced exclusively on the island of Chios. Recent studies have shown that chewing mastic gum contributes significantly to reducing the abundance of specific oral colonies of bacteria.



Study Design

Patients:
Exclusion criteria:
  • Periodontitis stage II, III, IV
  • Smoking
  • Antibiotics use
  • ...
Clinical metrics:
  • Bleeding on Probing (BoP)
  • Gingival Bleeding Index (GBI)
  • Plaque Index (PI)

Study Groups:
  1. Daily use of placebo chewing gums, 0% mastic product
  2. Daily use of chewing gums, 25% mastic product
  3. Daily use of mastic oil, 100% mastic product

Sampling and Sequencing:Sampling data obtained and Sequencing performed


The project is jointly executed by the Department of Computer Science and Biomedical Informatics at the University of Thessaly, in partnership with the Chios Mastic Growers Association.