A potential use of oral health related quality of life (OHRQoL) questionnaires, such as the Oral Health Impact Profile 49 (OHIP49), has been said to be to select therapies. Relevant questions has, however, been raised as to the usefulness of a questionnaire for information extraction from individual patients. Individual interviews have in stead been hailed as a viable method of generating information to be used for decision-making in oral rehabilitation. Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the ability of the OHIP49 questionnaire and an individual systematic interview method in measuring OHRQoL and generating useful information for decision-making in oral rehabilitation. Material and methods: 60 participants in need of oral rehabilitation underwent an interview using the Schedule for the Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life - Direct Weighing (SEIQoL-DW) and filled out the OHIP49 questionnaire and 2 global rating questions. Results: The SEIQoL-DW generated additional oral and treatment specific information compared to the OHIP49. The overall SEIQoL-DW and OHIP49 scores were significantly related to each other. The OHIP49 and SEIQoL-DW scores were related to the subjectively indicated oral health. Conclusions: The SEIQoL-DW method proved to a useful aid in clinical decision-making in oral rehabilitation. The SEIQoL-DW method was more appropriate for generating information useful for decision-making than measuring OHRQoL. The OHIP49 was more appropriate for measuring OHRQoL than generating information.