help me build? AC dex-based fighter

[SanguineDarkness]

I want to make a character that can tank a lot and survive a majority of encounters or go with taking no or minimal hits [dps is not really intended but would be nice]
So I am wanting to make a high AC fighter by making a dexterity-based fighter is there a correct way to do this? This is on a new server, so I've got nothing, if anyone would help me out with this, it would be great.
I am thinking of rolling up a Dwarf, max out dex to 18.
Then go around with a tower-shield, full plate and get the Fighter tower shield mastery and get the Dwarven and Fighter armor mastery enhancements to increase max dex bonus and keep increasing dex until I hit the max dex bonus of the enhancements then I will either increase strength or constitution if possible... little unsure about feats but I will get [maybe Toughness] however I WILL get Combat Expertize (+5 AC -5 attack) is this a good idea?
Is high AC better than high hp? Or is a high hp character better at surviving? Would this work? Any flaws in this idea? Any suggestions?

Thank you in advance -- DeathKillTank.

[unbongwah]

Nobody goes DEX-based on a traditional heavily-armored tank. Instead, you rely on tomes & items to boost your DEX high enough to hit whatever your MDB is. Here's a few examples: ftr 2 / paladin 18; rogue 2 / ftr 18 (Big Rock Candy); and my own rogue 2 / barb 6 / ftr 12 (still a work-in-progress). If you still want to try to do something DEX-based, have a look at Batman 9.4; it isn't DEX-based either but I think it can be adapted into something which is.