We’ve all had fecal bacteria in our mouths and digestive systems since we were born. It is everywhere in human habitations, and we co-evolved with most of it. We can’t live without the bacteria in our guts, so getting all worried about it infecting you is ignorant. If you don’t have beneficial bacteria in your gut, you get very, very ill from pathogens taking advantage of its absence.
Normal cleanliness is fine. But extreme germ paranoia has been propagated by marketing companies to sell products, it’s got no science behind it. So go ahead and keep your toothbrush in your bathroom, like people have since toothbrushes were invented. It’s fine.
And you don’t need an expensive toothbrush holder to “reduce your exposure to germs” (although the evidence for that claim is scant). That’s just marketing guys trying to make you queasy so you’ll give them money.
