Thieves struck gold when they broke into a Manor Township dentist office last week.

About 2 ounces of the precious metal were stolen from the office of Dr. Ernest Witbeck at 1604 Columbia Ave. on Thursday night, Manor Township police said.

The gold, used for dental repairs, is worth about $1,600, police said.

Burglars forced open a rear door and tore through every office and treatment room in the building, Cpl. Gary Strock said Monday.

He said the gold was taken from a refrigerator, but he could not say why it was stored there.

A cash box also was taken, but it contained no money, police said.

Strock said it didn't appear the thief or thieves were seeking the gold.

"If they were, they would have gone right to it," he said. "The way it sounds, it appears they were looking for anything they could find."

At one time, gold was regularly used for dental repairs but today is typically used only for  crowns.

Earlier this year, there was a surge in recycling old dental work when the price of gold soared to a historic high of $1,000 an ounce.

E-mail: jtodd@lnpnews.com