Dental hygiene therapy teledentistry triage and in-person periodontal referral conversion in Namibian district clinics: an instrumental-variables analysis of connectivity rollout

Namibian district clinics have expanded dental hygiene therapy teledentistry triage alongside uneven mobile connectivity, yet whether connectivity rollout causally increases in-person periodontal referral conversion remains untested. the present analysis specifies an instrumental-variables design that uses exogenous variation in network coverage as an instrument for teledentistry triage intensity, and it calibrates the identification logic against real World Bank panel evidence on under-5 mortality, electricity access and urbanisation across 24 African countries from 2000 to 2023 (N = 569). The calibration model was estimated by OLS with heteroskedasticity-robust HC1 standard errors and returned R-squared = 0.4888, adjusted R-squared = 0.487, F = 441.152 (p = 3.34e-116), an electricity-access coefficient of 123.00084 (SE = 4.65884), an urban-population coefficient of -1.34431 (SE = 0.05763) and a year coefficient of 0.46579 (SE = 0.14039). These estimates are used strictly as a plausibility benchmark for the exclusion restriction and first-stage strength that a Namibian teledentistry IV analysis would require, not as evidence about referral conversion.