More Americans going abroad for medical treatment to save money. New York bartender fixes tooth in Costa Rica

Stuck with an aching tooth and very little cash, Brennan Mulligan was faced with a painful dilemma: Wait weeks to get a dental procedure in the city that he couldn't afford or fly off to see an unfamiliar dentist in a foreign country at a fraction of the cost.

Mulligan, a 23-year-old uninsured Manhattan bartender, chose the latter. Within five days, he was inside a gleaming dental office in Costa Rica. His severely damaged tooth was extracted and replaced with a metal implant for $1,500. He said New York dentists told him the same procedure would have cost more than $7,500 in the city.

Lured by cheaper costs and top-class facilities and doctors, hundreds of thousands of Americans are opting to get their teeth fixed, hips replaced and eggs fertilized overseas each year.

Original source: New York Daily News