A protective mouth guard primarily for use in contact sports has a handle that is convenient to hold while taking the mouth guard in and out of the mouth and while holding it. Some embodiments have about a ¾″ by ¾″ area for two-fingered holding some have a downward extending loop providing for one-fingered holding. Versions also have a loop for being retained on a helmet face guard in addition to a shaft portion that provides a place other than the in-mouth portion for grasping while performing the face guard retention action.
