Local anesthesia

is any technique to induce the absence of sensation in a specific part of the body, generally for the aim of inducing

local analgesia

, that is, local insensitivity to pain, although other local senses may be affected as well. It allows patients to undergo

surgical

and

dental

procedures with reduced pain and distress. In many situations, such as cesarean section, it is safer and therefore superior to general

anesthesia

. It is also used for relief of

non-surgical pain

and to enable diagnosis of the cause of some

chronic pain

conditions.

Anesthetists

sometimes combine both general and

local anesthesia

techniques.