Laser cutting

A dental appliance trimming system, comprising:

• a fixture configured to hold a mold made of a mold material, the mold having a conformed sheet of material positioned thereon, the conformed sheet of material including a dental appliance and excess material to be removed from the conformed sheet of material, the conformed sheet of material being made from dental appliance material different than the mold material and the dental appliance having one or more dental appliance thicknesses;
• a laser generating system comprising a laser generating component configured to generate a laser, and at least one optical component configured to direct the laser to the conformed sheet of material;
• a control mechanism configured to control laser energy of the laser along a cut path to cut the excess material from the conformed sheet of material such that a relationship between the laser energy and the one or more dental appliance thicknesses is maintained within a predetermined acceptable range for cutting the excess material from the conformed sheet of material to remove the dental appliance from the excess material while maintaining an integrity of the mold material and maintaining physical characteristics of the dental appliance material along the cut path;
• and
• at least one actuator coupled to the fixture and the laser generating system, the at least one actuator configured to guide the laser along the cut path.

A dental appliance trimming system comprising:

• a laser;
• at least one optical component;
• a fixture configured to hold a dental appliance;
• at least one sensor configured to provide a thickness estimate of the dental appliance along a cut path;
• at least one actuator configured to guide the laser along a cut path to cut excess material from the dental appliance;
• and
• a control mechanism configured to adjust the laser or the at least one optical component or the fixture such that a ratio of laser energy applied to the dental appliance and the estimated dental appliance thickness is maintained within an acceptable range along the cut path at which the laser contacts the dental appliance to cut through a dental appliance material.

A dental appliance trimming system comprising:

• a fixture configured to hold a mold made of a mold material, the mold having a conformed sheet of material positioned thereon, the conformed sheet of material including a dental appliance and excess material to be removed from the conformed sheet of material, the conformed sheet of material being made from dental appliance material different than the mold material and the dental appliance having one or more dental appliance thicknesses;
• a laser generating system comprising a component configured to generate a laser having laser energy, and at least one optical component configured to direct the laser to the conformed sheet of material;
• and
• a control mechanism configured to:
• identify the at least one or more dental appliance thickness along a cut path to cut the excess material from the conformed sheet of material;
• identify an acceptable value corresponding to a specific laser energy sufficient to cut the dental appliance material at the at least one or more dental appliance thickness;
• and
• control the laser energy to meet the acceptable value along the cut path in order to cut through the dental appliance material along the laser cut path while maintaining an integrity of the mold material and while maintaining physical characteristics of the dental appliance material along the cut path;
• and
• at least one actuator coupled to the fixture or the laser generating system, the at least one actuator configured to guide the laser along the cut path.