Where is the proximal contact area located on the DISTAL surface of a permanent maxillary canine?

Correct answer: C. At the centre of the middle third of the crown

• A. The junction of the middle and incisal thirds is where the MESIAL contact of the maxillary canine lies, against the distal of the lateral incisor.
• B. A contact near the cusp tip would be in the incisal third, which is where incisor contacts sit — not the canine's distal contact.
• C. CORRECT. The distal contact of the maxillary canine sits at the CENTRE OF THE MIDDLE THIRD — more cervically than its mesial contact. This is why the distal outline appears rounded and the distal convexity looks larger and more uniform than the mesial. The canine is the transitional tooth of the arch, and its contacts shift cervically from mesial to distal exactly as the arch moves from anterior to posterior form.
• D. No permanent tooth has its proximal contact in the cervical third; such a position would create an enormous open interproximal space.

Note: The general rule: contacts move progressively CERVICALLY as you travel posteriorly. Incisors contact in the incisal third; canine mesial at the incisal/middle junction; canine distal and all premolar contacts in the middle third; the mesial of every molar at the occlusal/middle junction.