Dr. Deb

My youngest daughter lost her first baby tooth this week. I started to tear realizing my baby was growing up. She looked at me and said ”Don’t cry Mom, I’ll grow a new one.”

In a blink of an eye, she really will be grown up and I’ll be packing her up for college like so many parents are this week. In addition to the books, lamps and rugs, it is important to keep your children healthy in and out of the classroom so here are Dr. Deb’s 5 College Health Tips.

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Many parents still have a lot of questions about giving their daughters the Gardasil vaccine.  I understand why.
First, We really don’t want to accept that our 10-year-old babies will be faced with the sexual onslaught, now known as Middle School. It is the land of Lollipop parties where girls give oral sex to multiple boys for stature and attention.
Not only are Middle Schoolers engaging in high risk oral sex behaviors, they are not afraid to invite or broadcast it on the internet via their cell phones. I had a patient tell me, “Well you can thank Bill Clinton for that!” At the time, I thought it was absurd but he did introduce the mainstream to the belief that oral sex is not a big deal or even recognized as sex with the infamous,” I did not have sexual relations with that woman!” Teenagers will report that kissing is more intimate than oral sex. My how things have changed!

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So many scary reports out there about vaccines. As a Mom, it can be terrifying hearing about vaccines not being safe. As a physician I know that data supports the safety of vaccines and the incredible prevention of life threatening diseases. I still have some unanswered questions about the scheduling and number of vaccines given at one time since we have so many more vaccines today.

One of the latest questions is about Gardasil. It is a vaccine introduced in May of 2006 to help prevent cervical cancer and genital warts. It helps the body produce an antibody to 4 types of Human Papilloma Virus or HPV. (more…)