Perhaps I just haven't been observant enough, but I haven't noticed any of these issues with the toothpaste I use. I have not used Crest for many years so I can't speak to that. My usual toothpaste is Colgate Baking Soda & Peroxide Fluoride gel which I highly recommend. Not only does it leave a nice taste in my mouth, but it cost about half of what the other Colgate toothpastes cost and is often on sale making it even cheaper. Occasionally I suffer from tooth sensitivity and then I use Colgate Sensitive gel. I have no complaints about that other than the price. If the toothpastes have become thinner or the tubes filled with more air or the openings become larger I haven't noticed and I do tend to be somewhat persnickety about these sort of things. I have not noticed any problem with squeezing out just the amount I want and no more. Also I'm one of those people who will continue to squeeze every last bit of paste out of the tube way past the point that most people would have tossed it and I haven't noticed any change there.