Maybe I could use less toothpaste.
It’s possible using a manual toothbrush would help because this is a problem I only developed with electronic toothbrushes. I’ve also wondered if it’s the specific toothpaste (Sensodyne.)
An amount the size of a pea is recommended. But though I follow that advice, I also always have toothpaste stains on my pajamas, go figure. I brush electrically, and starting that more than 20 years ago saved my teeth. I never had the manual technique down, but with an electric brush, it’s easy.
Unless you eat very small peas, i think that’s substantially more toothpaste than you need. Try using half that much, and see how it goes.
I like a manual toothbrush, but i like brushing my teeth, which probably helps me. I do a quick side to side motion with the bristles nestled right at the gumline, and usually start top center, move to one side, then the other, then inside asking the bottom, and then repeat for the bottom teeth. I spend some time trying to reach around to brush the gumline at the very back of each quadrant, too, (neither front nor back) but that’s hard to get to.
Maybe, I also think better less than too much, but we all know the commercials where a long line of toothpaste is applied across the whole length of a brush head, And that’s excessive and misleading.
The toothpaste equivalent to 'lather, rinse, and repeat"!
Either way, it knocks me out if I need to be knocked out.
then back the full length a second time, then finishes with a big vertical flourish.
So about 10x the actual correct amount. A particularly blatant example of an advertising technique that ought to be illegal.
Ok, I tried with less toothpaste and the outcome was better. I also used the lower intensity setting of my brush.
I tried brushing with my mouth closed but I couldn’t reach my gumline at all.
I never close my mouth all the way. As you point out, there’s not really enough room to maneuver that way. I do sort of cup my lips to contain what’s easy to contain.
I get ready for bed usually a half hour early, then take my book or e-reader to bed, prop myself up on a reading pillow and read for a while. I have been known to closed the book and lie back against the reading pillow, half asleep, too tired to move that pillow, turn out my light and lie down for 5 or 10 minutes until I finally get up enough energy to move.
I like to wind down for bed by reading in bed in a dark room with just the faint orange glow of my e-reader
Small drawback to reading. Sometimes the reading is really good. I settled down in bed with a new book last night and I could not put it down. (Emily St. John Mandel’s latest, Exit Party.)
I should have known given how much I loved Station Eleven.
I have already banned Stephen King before bed.
It’s hard to predict sometimes how engaging a book is going to be.
That reminds me that Mrs Cheesesteak puts on the tv to sleep as it makes my snoring less disturbing. I had to ban House from the sleepy time rotation because I would stay focused on the show and stay up listening.
Now it’s mostly Vera or other British mysteries.
True dat. Both our kids were really into the Harry Potter books (way before we knew how ugly Rowling really is), so we regularly went to the midnight releases when the books came out. Our youngest was a real HP fanatic, and for at least three of the books, they stayed up all night finishing the books. The next day they were wiped out, possibly having gotten an hour or two of sleep.
The standard pedagogy on sleep hygiene is that bed is for sleep and sex. Period.
Any lolling in bed, like reading, or watching TV, is harmful to good sleep. At a minimum, it’s wasting time you should be using sleeping. YMMV, but it’s a rule I’ve always lived by.
I’m sure that works for some people. I rarely have trouble falling asleep. I really like winding down in bed with a book or a game of sudoku. And when i do have trouble sleeping, I’d rather read a book in bed than either get up or lie there tossing and turning.
It seems like a nice idea, but my bed is the most comfortable place in the house. It’s adjustable and everything. Right now I spend a lot of time up there especially because we don’t have living room furniture for another 2-3 weeks.
My sleep hygiene overall is decent. I’ve been stitching before bed, in bed. Last night I broke out The Annotated Alice and fell asleep pretty quickly when I was ready. My bed has really become a hub of relaxing activities. I love gazing out the window into the trees.
As long as I stay away from blue light I usually fall asleep when ready, with some exceptions for riveting books.
Stitching is a great activity before bed because it’s soothing and not so exciting you’re going to stay up overdoing it.
All respect for @LSLGuy’s ideal world (and to more of both functions!), but I too often have a hard time falling asleep if I lie in bed wanting to sleep. But, a house rule for me is to NEVER read anything new to me. Something I’ve read a half dozen times or more, where I’m revisiting characters/settings I like, but the plot is well known works best for me.
Because, yes, many a night (fewer after being 30+) I’ve found myself going “one more chapter” until it was 2am, then 3am, then you just tell yourself that might as well stay up all night and get to bed early…
Stopped being able to function like that after about 40. And now it’s right out. 
Just an update. I bought a pack of these on your recommendation and I like them very much. Tooth brushing is so much less stressful now. And the toothpaste stays in my mouth.
The final proof will be good news at the dentist. I’m always a little nervous switching toothbrushes. So, we’ll see in about six months. But so far, so good.
I’m so glad you like them. They feel very different from a nylon toothbrush. Paradoxically, they are very gentle but also very firm. Kind of like good parenting, I guess…