This paper discusses the potential of different ways of producing diaries when used in collective health as tools for intervention through institutional analysis. The text and its argument are based on an analysis of many different studies that use the technique of diaries in fieldwork. Several theoretical and methodological approaches are considered in this study, which was related to academic work for the attainment of a doctoral degree. The work of a group of oral health professionals interested in proposing innovative strategies for developing types of care in their work in the public health system in Campinas city, SP, Brazil. The practice of writing diaries allowed the professionals to reflect on their everyday work and experiences. Complex and often conflictive situations in basic activities in oral health are described and elaborated on, and the method has proved to be a feasible manner for these professionals to give meaning and form to their individual and collective "practices."
Institutional analysis; diaries; collective oral health; routine health services