Tooth brushing using toothpaste and the toothbrush remains the most common mouth cleaning method. Many dentists recommend the use of a fluoride-containing toothpaste twice daily when tooth brushing. This process retains food debris, blood, crevicular fluid, saliva, phlegm and toothpaste residues in between the bristles of the toothbrush if not thoroughly cleaned after use. These can potentially infect traumatic injuries caused by toothbrushes in the mouth and also re-infect immunocompromised persons after recovery from some illnesses or other persons when toothbrushes are shared or improperly stored. Household vectors attracted to toothpaste residues on toothbrushes can potentially infect such toothbrushes with non-endemic strains of microorganisms as well. With hundreds of millions of people around the world projected to join the class of the extremely poor by 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, one popular professional recommendation for toothbrush hygiene- replacement every 3 or 4 months- is increasingly likely to be ignored. This paper recommends additional, cost-effective, universally adaptable ways of improving toothbrush hygiene for the removal of toothpaste residues after tooth brushing.