Pierre Fauchard. Portrait of the French founder of modern dental surgery Pierre Fauchard (1678-1761). Fauchard introduced fillings of tin foil and lead cylinders. He also made effective dental crowns and dentures, and an improved drill in 1728. In his book The Surgeon Dentist, a whole chapter was devoted to tooth irregularities and how they may be corrected. This book became the authoritative text through the next century as well as helping to create the discipline of dentistry within medicine.