How do you brush your teeth?

[Daniel Magix]

Recently, my wife and sister-in-law-to-be were insisting that my brother and I were weird, because of the way we brush our teeth.

My routine is as follows...
1) Remove tooth brush from holder, and run under very hot water for a few seconds.
2) Apply some toothpaste.
3) Brush teeth.
4) Rinse mouth out.
5) Run toothbrush under very hot water again to clean.
6) Shake off extra water from toothbrush.
7) Replace toothbrush in holder.

This was just always the way I brushed. But apparently, the ladies thought it was bizarre that we ran the brush under hot water first. They apparently just use cold water.

My logic was that the hot water does two things: a) it does a better job of removing/killing any little creatures or dust or whatever may have found it's way into my brush overnight or during the day. And b) it softens up the bristles and makes for a more enjoyable brushing experience.

They didn't really buy into my logic, but I thought it made sense.
So I am curious what is more the norm, hot water or cold when brushing?