Objective: To investigate the effect of elective neck dissection on the 5-year survival rate of patients with early oral squamous cell carcinoma. Methods: The data of 100 patients with early oral squamous cell carcinoma (cT1-2N0M0) were retrospectively analyzed. In 61 cases, the primary tumor was subjected to elective neck dissection (END). Neck observation and follow-up (NOF) were performed in 39 cases with enlarged resection of primary lesions. Clinicopathological data such as pT staging, pathology classification,the rate of cervical lymph node metastasis and the 5-year survival rate of the patients were statistically analyzed. Results: The 5-year survival rates of the END and NOF groups were 86.9% and 69.2%, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P=0.028). END treatment was significantly better than NOF in controlling cervical lymph node metastasis in early oral squamous cell carcinoma (P=0.009). After stratified analysis of histopathological features, the 5-year survival rate of patients with pathological T2 (pT2) stage OSCC in the END group was significantly higher than that in the NOF group (P=0.020). The 5-year survival rate of patients with moderate and poorly differentiated pathological grade OSCC in the END group was significantly higher than that in the NOF group (P=0.013). Conclusion END is effective for the management of the cervical lymph node metastasis rate in early OSCC patients. For patients with pT2 stage or low differentiation pathological grade, active END can significantly improve the 5-year survival rate.