System and method for forming dental appliances

A system for forming a dental appliance, comprising:

• a control module, including a memory and a processor with one or more executable instructions configured to:
• receive data concerning a dental model;
• and
• determine an outline for the dental appliance based at least in part on the data;
• applying the outline to a first substrate wherein the outline defines a first portion of the first substrate within the outline and a second portion of the first substrate outside the outline, the first substrate including a first substrate uppermost top surface and a first substrate lowermost bottom surface opposite the first substrate uppermost top surface;
• a cutting module, in communication with the control module, the cutting module configured to cut the first substrate along a portion of the outline while leaving the first portion of the first substrate connected to the second portion of the first substrate to form a partially cut substrate, wherein at least some of the first substrate along the portion of the outline is cut entirely through the first substrate from the first substrate uppermost top surface to the first substrate lowermost bottom surface;
• and
• a forming module configured to use the second portion to support the first portion during a thermoforming process to form the dental appliance;
• wherein the dental appliance includes an appliance underneath surface adapted to directly engage a user's teeth when worn and an appliance uppermost surface opposite the appliance underneath surface and adapted to be exposed to an interior of the user's mouth when worn;
• wherein the first substrate uppermost top surface forms at least a portion of the appliance uppermost surface and the first substrate lowermost bottom surface forms at least a portion of the appliance underneath surface.