THE EDITOR'S CORNER

Fifteen and a half million Americans live alone. In 1976, of 1.3 million new households established, almost half were single person households. Is this another manifestation of rapid social change? Many people whose business it is to investigate such matters say yes. They see 21% of all households today as single households and estimate that this will rise to 25-30% by 1985. They attribute this large and growing phenomenon to young people moving out of the family home, to a decline in marriage, to an increase in divorce, and to an increase in the gap between the life expectancy of male and female.

Of the 15½ million who live alone today, one-third are widows. If widows can be presumed to be the older age group, then around ten million younger single persons are living alone right now, and the number will increase as the adult population increases. Single persons living alone average an annual income of $7400. They are in a disadvantaged tax bracket and they have to buy many of the things that family households do. Yet, they are reported to be relatively larger consumers of services and expensive items; and they make their own spending decisions.

Orthodontics is a service that ought to be attractive to this group. They ought to be particularly concerned about the aging effect of loss of teeth, about staying young looking, staying healthy, about the effect of the appearance of their teeth, dental esthetics, on their life style and sense of well-being and self esteem. If we know the target population and know the message, what we have here is a failure to communicate.