I heard an interesting story years ago about a guy making a proposal to some toothpaste company about increasing their profits 2x over night. His solution was to make the hole in the tube 2x the area.

Was the hole in a toothpaste tube/container ever much smaller than it is today?

I put roughly a pea-sized blob of toothpaste on the brush. It works very well. The other alternative is brushing only once per week - makes the tubes last a super long time, though doesn't keep the teeth so clean.