Patent ID: 7353828

Claim:
A mouth guard assembly to be used in conjunction with a protective helmet having at least one face mask bar of a given diameter, the mouth guard assembly comprising: a. an elongated interconnecting strap member having a first end and a second end; b. a first quick release engagement member attached to the first end of said interconnecting strap member and comprised of a male clip member having a generally elongated shaped upper sidewall and a generally widened frustum shaped end terminating in a flat leading edge with ends having lips extending from the sidewall, with a stop collar on the interconnecting strap member and spaced apart from and adjacent to the of the end of the male clip member remote from the flat leading edge; c. said mouth guard having a body having a teeth receiving tray surrounded by a circumferential exterior sidewall and a circumferential interior sidewall, the body having a front portion beneath the teeth receiving tray having a receiving cavity within said body at its front portion, the shape of the receiving cavity conformed to the shape of the male clip member so that when the male clip member is inserted into the receiving cavity, a loose press fit is formed, the mouth guard having at least one additional breathing hole extending through it; d. a second quick release engagement member attached to the second end of the interconnecting strap and further comprised of a body having means to attached the body to the strap at one end of the strap and a female clip member at the other end of the body, the female clip member having a rear wall terminating in an outwardly extending leading, the rear wall supporting a rounded wall which extends from the approximate midpoint of the rear wall in a generally arcuate fashion and then extends in an outwardly extending leading end which extends away from the outwardly extending leading end of the rear wall, an opening between the rear wall and the rounded wall leading to an interior cavity between the rear wall and the rounded wall, the interior cavity sized to be slightly smaller than the diameter of the face mask bar so that when the female clip member is inserted onto the face mask bar of the helmet there is a loose press fit between the face mask bar and the interior cavity; and e. the mouth guard assembly worn in a person's mouth while a person wears the helmet on the person's head so that the male clip member of the first quick release engagement member is removably inserted into the receiving cavity of the mouth guard, and the interior cavity of the female clip member of the second quick release engagement member is removably attached to the least one face mask bar of the helmet so that in the event of an impact force which causes the helmet to be removed from the person's head, depending on the location on the impact force, the first quick release engagement member will be released from the mouth guard and/or the second quick release engagement member will be released from the face mask bar so that the mouth guard remains in the person's mouth.