Dental Therapy Teledentistry Consultation Uptake and Restorative Treatment Completion in Rural Zambian Health Centres: An Instrumental-Variable Analysis of Connectivity Infrastructure

Rural Zambian health centres have expanded dental therapy teledentistry consultation services, yet restorative treatment completion remains uneven across facilities. The analysis uses the DHS Program indicator 'Current users most recent supply or information from a government health center' (FP_SRCM_W_GHC) across 36 African countries and 150 country-survey observations from 1990 to 2025, with Zambia as the maximum-value case (51.89). The sample mean was 25.261 (SD = 18.895). Connectivity infrastructure is proposed as an instrumental variable for teledentistry consultation uptake, on the assumption that network coverage affects uptake but affects restorative completion only through uptake. The contribution is a methodological and conceptual framework for evaluating teledentistry scale-up in rural African dental therapy contexts, not a report of estimated causal effects. The analysis implies that connectivity infrastructure should be measured and reported alongside teledentistry uptake in routine health information systems, and that instrumental-variable designs are feasible where coverage data are available.