Percebo FC. The referral and counter referral system in oral health according to the perception of professionals and users [dissertation] São Paulo: University of São Paulo, School of Dentistry; 2016. The services offered by the Unified Health System (SUS) are organized in a network in order to offer its users an integral attention. For this purpose, the configuration of this services network should prioritize the users access to the health care level that can provide the solution to his case, and a suitable reference and counter reference system to the user that needs to be sent from a health care level to another. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the perception of professionals and users concerning the reference and counter reference system, and how this system works daily in the health units involved in this study. This is a qualitative study, where data were collected through the application of a questionnaire aimed to obtain the social representations of professionals and users about the proposed subject, as well as some operational aspects about the operation of this system at these health units. Subsequently the results were presented and analyzed in the form of Collective Subject Discourse and allow us to conclude that professionals and users have the same perception about the problems that affect the proper functioning of this system, such as lack of professionals, delay in treatment, lack of resoluteness of the primary health care, availability of services in secondary care at odds with people's needs, difficulties in communication between professionals of different health care levels, and a deficiency in controlling the flow of users, making the success of referrals dependent often on personal commitment of the professionals involved and of the patient's own efforts.