Sleep/Wake Button Non-Functioning

My phone's sleep wake button has decided to not function, which has given me the inability to turn my phone off. I would say that my phone has been on for roughly a month now as there is no way to turn it on or off. I have been to the apple store and told that there is "water damage". the genius was very polite and even offered to give me a gander down the magnifying glass. I saw what looked to be a speck on the entire STILL WHITE CIRCLE that had some pink, i'm talking like two pin heads on the entire circle. The same thing for the dock connector. If the genius hadn't been so polite I would be far more upset. I was just curious about people's past interactions with geniuses involving something of this nature. I never expose my phone to the elements and would assume its probably sweat from working out. is there any remedy to these white with a smidge of pink dots??