Acrylic cements have been used in dentistry since the 1930s. In 1956, Charnley, working closely with Dr. Dennis Smith, Lecturer at the Turner Dental School in Manchester, looked at the properties of cement: working time, hardening, strength, elastic modulus, sterilisation and the effect on body tissues. Charnley with the co-operation of the Dental Manufacturing Company in Blackpool (later named CMW) worked on the formulation of bone cement as the method of component fixation in total hip replacement.

Charnley made the point that the cement acted like a "grout" and not a glue and that fixation was achieved through interlocking of the cement with the bone.

"I was not the first to use acrylic cement in attempting to bond orthopaedic implants to bone, but I was the first to be successful."